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| Lamb and Baba Ghanoush with green beans |
Side orders. What do you always go for? Potatoes? Carrots?
Peas? Beans? I can always go for green beans
and peas - they are my favourites. I sometimes jazz them up with spices or
a bit of fried onions, garlic and chicken stock if I get fed up just steaming/boiling
them.
However, if you’ve got a really nice piece of protein that
is the star of the show you sometimes need a more interesting entourage that
will make it shine even brighter. This week I have been loving aubergines and so here is a great meal idea to share with you all:Lamb steaks with Aubergine mash and green beans
Lamb steaks [bone in]: marinade in Salt, Freshly ground
black pepper, rosemary, crushed garlic and fresh thyme [set aside
for however long you have before you cook them – overnight is best but a couple
of hours will also do! They should be at room temperature before cooking]
Green beans to steam Ingredients for Babaganoush [i.e. Aubergine mash]:
1 Fat Aubergine [pricked with a fork all over]
1 clove of garlic peeled and crushed½ tablespoon of tahini paste
2 tablespoons of plain fat free yogurt
Olive oil [about 1 tablespoon]
Garnishes: Squeeze of Lemon
Pinch of Sea salt
Pinch of Black pepper
Pinch of Smoked paprika
Handful of Pine nuts [dry roasted in a pan]
Parsley [finely chopped]
Aubergine mash goes brilliantly with lamb. This recipe is easily tweaked to your own taste and dead easy to make. Aubergines are spongy inside and full of water. They tend to soak up gallons of oil if you fry them and can take ages in the oven. The easiest way to cook them and soften them without using any fat at all is to actually stick the whole thing in a microwave.
1. Pre heat the fan oven to 200 degrees C for the lamb
2. Prick the skin of the Aubergine with a fork all over. Place in a dish and whack it in the microwave for 10min on the highest setting. Check after 5 minutes then after 10 minutes. When its deflated and soft when prodded with a knife, it’s done. If not, then stick it back in for another 5 minutes. Be careful with the steam coming off the aubergine – it will be scalding. Pop it on a chopping board and slice open. When you can handle it – hold the top with one hand, and scrape the innards out with a spoon. Discard the purple skin. Using a knife and fork chop the hot flesh into bits and then leave to cool a little.
3. While it’s resting, get a clean bowl and pop in your crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, squeeze of lemon juice and the Tahini and the yogurt. Remember tahini is very rich so a little goes a long way. Mix everything up and taste – if its needs tweaking do so now and keep checking the seasoning. You can add more tahini or yogurt as you see fit. With the seasoning Aubergine can take a lot of salt but do it in small increments to get the right balance.
5.Now for the garnishes. I love a texture contrast with dry roasted pine nuts. I also like a sprinkle of smoked paprika but you can leave this out if you like. Drizzle over some olive oil before you dish up and don't forget the parsley!
This dip is great at parties with crudités. But it’s luxurious
enough to be served as a side for my lamb.
As for my lamb steaks which were bathed in garlic, fresh
thyme, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper for about 2 hours - they were roasted in the
oven and finished off under the grill. The left over babaganoush was still delicious the next
day- cold and smeared over toast for breakfast!
5. Set the babaganoush aside. Pop the lamb steaks in
the oven and turn down the heat to 160 degrees; Leave them in to roast for 10 –
15min then finish under a hot grill for another 5 minutes and then leave to
rest. My steaks ended up medium. If you want them to be pinker then reduce the
cooking time and keep checking them so they don’t over cook.6. When the lamb is resting steam the green beans till al dente
7. Serve up with all the elements and a good pinot noir.
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