Lamb with haloumi and chickpea salad

This midweek dinner installment was completely designed around using lamb cutlets. More specifically, the butcher in our local village has the best lamb cutlets I have ever had and every time we eat them, Mr Shady Pine and I are planning the next time when we can devour them again.

Our butcher is a lovely country butcher who gets in some of the best quality meat I've yet to see. The best thing is that he is no more expensive than the big supermarkets but the quality of the meat is streets ahead of anything you will see in the supermarket.


Every week when we go to get our meat supply, we are greeted warmly and asked about how we found the meat the previous week. This butcher shop is tiny, the range is not huge but we wouldn't buy meat anywhere else. There is even a shelf stocked with locally made goodies like marinades, chutneys and sauces.

I really like the recommendations I will get here if I am cooking for a dinner party too. For example how long to cook a roast to get it to medium or different flavour variations to try. I hope shops like this can continue to thrive in the future. That is why I am a big supporter of our small local retailers and producers.

Anyway, back to the lamb. When deciding what to pair with these little cutlets, I couldn't go past grilled haloumi cheese and chickpeas. This dish is completely full of flavour yet it still meets the midweek criteria of being ready in a flash.

Where do you buy your meat or other produce? Do you try to support smaller retailers and producers or do you rely on supermarkets for your core food supplies?

Lamb cutlets with grilled haloumi and chickpea salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:
4-6 lamb cutlets (depending on their size and your appetite)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
50gm haloumi, sliced
Olive oil spray
S&P

Chickpea salad:
140g canned chickpeas, rinsed
½ red capsicum, diced
1 small carrot, diced
½ avocado, diced
Juice of half lemon
1 Tbs olive oil
¼ cup coriander, chopped
S&P to taste

1. Combine all the chickpea salad ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set the salad aside.
2. Spray the lamb cutlets with olive oil. Sprinkle the paprika, cumin and S&P on each side. Cook the lamb on in a hot pan to your liking (I like mine around medium). Remove the lamb from the pan and allow to rest for a few minutes.
3. In a non stick pan, fry the haloumi on each side until golden brown.
4. To serve, place some chickpea salad on the centre of a plate. Arrange haloumi and lamb cutlets on top. Serve with a wedge of lemon if desired.

Roast pumpkin, spinach & dukkah salad

Yesterday I wrote about the macadamia and lemon myrtle dukkah I had made. This was a real winner when added to bread dipped in olive oil. It was a real treat to have this with an end of day glass of wine.

The traditional dukkah version can be amended by replacing the combinations of nuts or spices used and you can vary the quantities of these to your particular taste. As well as a really tasty dip to dunk your bread into, dukkah can be used as an ingredient itself in any number of dishes. Lamb, chicken or fish with a dukkah crust, potatoes fried in olive oil, garlic and dukkah, a succulent roast of butterflied meat with a dukkah, breadcrumb and mushroom stuffing in the centre...but I digress!


I decided to use the dukkah I'd made in a simple salad of sweet roasted pumpkin, red capsicum and spinach. If I wanted to make this a more substantial salad, I would normally also add some chickpeas as well as other roasted vegetables like zuchinni, eggplant and carrot. As this was a side dish to a chicken main, I wanted to keep it simple.

As well as the vegetables, the addition of a couple of heaped tablespoons of the dukkah gave this salad a great texture and flavour. The lemon myrtle combined with the lemon juice in the dressing delivered a zingy kick and freshness.


I ate the leftover salad for lunch the next day and it was delicious as the dukkah and dressing had imparted even more flavour. This is a handy salad if you needed to make one ahead of time or make it in a larger quantity to eat later.

Roast pumpkin, spinach & dukkah salad
Ingredients:
½ butternut pumpkin, cut into half inch cubes
(Optional: 1 small zucchini, ½ eggplant, 1 large carrot cubed)
100g baby spinach
(Optional: 120g canned chickpeas, rinsed)
1 small capsicum, chopped
2 heaped Tbs dukkah of your choice
1 Tbs olive oil
S&P
Dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp honey
S&P

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place pumpkin and any other vegetables to be roasted on the tray. Drizzle over the olive oil and add S&P to taste. Mix well. Bake for 30 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through. Remove from the oven and place vegetables into a salad bowl.
3. To vegetables, add chickpeas if using, capsicum, dukkah and spinach.
4. To make the dressing, whisk together all the dressing ingredients ensuring the honey is dissolved in the dressing. Add the dressing to the salad while the roast vegetables are still warm. Serve.