Mediterranean Lamb – so many layers of flavour.
This has got to be a winner every time! Mediterranean flavours combined with soft, slow baked lamb pieces are just superb. You and your family will love this. It is so versatile and nourishing. I’ve made it this time to layer on top of spicy baked sweet potato. It made a great dish for two people, and the remainder of the mix was served the next night on creamy polenta. If you scroll down below the lamb recipe, I’ve included how to cook the sweet potato. Because that in itself is a versatile dish!
You will notice that one of the things that makes this dish easy for you is that is uses a store bought pesto dip. Of course, you can make your own, or swap it out for a different pesto. You could try the sun-dried tomato pesto. That would give you similar Mediterranean flavours but without the basil.
Mediterranean dishes often have lamb as the base. However, you can swap it out for beef, wallaby or venison. The flavours are strong enough to go with a game meat.
Does this suit changing for a Vegetarian focus?
You know, pretty much anything can be changed to suit a vegetarian diet. You could use the same background flavours and swap the lamb for cauliflower florets. Or perhaps some chickpeas? And then, of course, it is perfect on top of the sweet potato! Yum! If you are entertaining and there is someone who wants a steak, then it’s great as a side dish for them! I personally am not a fan of tofu, but it would work really well as a substitute for the lamb.
So here’s the recipe. And, excitingly, this is the first one published with all the nutritional facts at the bottom. Yay for updated plugins for my website, which will allow all my recipes to have this information for you!
Mediterranean Lamb
Equipment
- oven safe heavy based casserole dish
- chopping board
- sharp knife
Ingredients
- 800 gram cubed lamb shoulder, leg heart steaks, back strap
- 1 150 g tub basil, pecorino and cashew pesto dip Red Rock Deli or similar
- 1 medium red capsicum 2cm pieces
- 20 black, pitted olives plus 1/5 cup of brine from jar
- 1 medium red onion sliced into thin wedges
- 3 cloves garlic – finely chopped or 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 lemon, rind grated and juiced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170C
- Mix pesto dip and brine from olives together in a small bowl, add the garlic, lemon rind and juice.
- Put the prepared lamb, onions and capsicum into your baking dish. Pour over dip mix and stir to coat all the lamb pieces evenly.
- Scatter the olives over the top, and cover tightly with foil, and then the lid, if the dish has one. It's important to keep all the moisture in the dish while it's baking.
- Bake in oven for 90 minutes. If the lamb is not soft enough for you taste after that time, add a small amount of water, re-cover, and bake for another 20 minutes.
- If you are making the roast sweet potato, start that recipe once the lamb is in the oven.
Nutrition
The recipe below is for the roast sweet potato. Another new feature of my recipes is that you can hit the 2X or 3X button and it will adjust the amounts for you. So this recipe is for 2 people, but if you are making the lamb for 6, then it’s all possible to make the changes!
Roast Sweet Potato
Equipment
- microwave/oven safe dish
Ingredients
- 400 grams sweet potato this is one medium sweet potato
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp spice mix pick your favourite savoury mix. I've got Szechuan mix on this one for some heat.
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 170C and line a dish that is microwave and oven safe with baking paper.
- Cut sweet potato in half length ways pop into microwave on high for 5 minutes. Check how soft it is after this first time, then put on for 5 minute bursts until it is just tender throughout.
- Brush cut side with olive oil and sprinkle over the seasoning.
- Pop into oven for 15 minutes to get that lovely roasted finish.
- Note: if you want to do the whole cooking process in the oven, it takes 90 minutes, but is still good!