Meatfest

After yesterday's meatfest on the barbecue (homemade lamb and mint burgers with pork ribs marinated in maple syrup, garlic, paprika and tomato puree), I find myself, of a Monday evening, with yet more lamb mince to do something with. We also had aubergines, broad beans, feta cheese, mint and olives. So here's what I concocted:

I fried an onion with some garlic (5 big cloves - I do like a lot of garlic) and then added the lamb mince. Once browned, I threw in some cinnamon, cumin and dried thyme, chopped black olives and some aubergine that I had sliced, brushed with olive oil and grilled. The aubergine was chopped into smaller pieces before being added to the lamb. I simmered the whole lot for 20 minutes or so in some fresh vegetable stock and seasoned it well.

At the same time, I boiled some broad beans, took them out of their thick, outer shells and added crumbled feta, chopped mint, lemon juice and a drop of extra virgin olive oil.

We scooped up the lamb and broad bean salad into toasted pitta bread - messy but delicious. To drink, we had a young Spanish red from Tempranillo which worked fairly well although I think, given the richness and oiliness of the lamb, a crisp Loire Chenin or even a Jurançon Sec might have been more interesting and a bit different.

I would try this again with pieces of shoulder or neck of lamb, slow cooked and served with couscous but I would stick to a red wine for this heavier style of lamb.