Nadiya Hussain’s Lemon Lamb with Jewelled Couscous
This simple, all-in-one roast lamb traybake is flavourful with zesty preserved lemons and ras-el-hanout. Serve atop a bed of fluffy couscous bejewelled with pomegranate.
From the book
Nadiya’s Fast Flavours
Clever, flavour-focussed recipes from Nadiya Hussain
From midweek meals to celebration centrepieces
Including plenty of Nadiya's signature bakes
Introduction
We all need a whopper of a recipe in our repertoire, and when I do roasts, my kids prefer lamb. So I always go for a big piece of butterflied lamb. Here the meat is covered in a zingy mix of preserved lemon and ras-el-hanout, baked in the oven, and then popped onto a cosy bed of couscous and baked again, ready to slice up and serve.
Ingredients
| For the lamb: | |
|---|---|
| 350g jar of | preserved lemons, drained |
| 3 tbsp | runny honey |
| 65g | ras-el-hanout |
| 200ml | oil, plus extra to serve |
| 750g | butterflied leg of lamb |
| For the couscous: | |
| 150g | baby spinach leaves |
| 250g | couscous |
| 100g | pine nuts |
| A pinch of | saffron strands |
| A large bunch of | fresh coriander, roughly chopped |
| 80g | pomegranate seeds |
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C and have a tray large enough to lay the leg of lamb in comfortably. Place the spinach into the base of the tray.
Halve the preserved lemons and remove the seeds, but be sure to keep the flesh in. Put in a blender along with the honey, ras-elhanout and oil and blend until smooth.
Pour the mixture all over the leg of lamb on both sides and roast for 30 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and add the couscous, pine nuts and saffron, mixing them in with the spinach. Pour in just enough water to cover the couscous and put the leg of lamb back on top.
Cook for another 20 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven, take out the leg of lamb and leave to rest.
Fluff the couscous up with a fork and transfer onto a platter.
Slice up the leg of lamb and place on top of the couscous. Sprinkle over the coriander and pomegranate seeds, drizzle with a little olive oil and it’s ready to serve.
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