We’ll never make good food writers. We keep creating nice stuff to eat, and then eating it before we remember to take Pinterest-worthy photos of the dish. But hey – a tasty dish in the tummy is worth two on the food-stylist’s table, no? But we did take a picture of what we did with the bones the next day (right), so at least there is some pictorial interest with the post.
So – this recipe is just us making good on vague promises. We are always telling people that pomegranate paste ‘goes well with lamb’: we thought it would be helpful if we actually shared our recipe therein.
Ingredients (for 6):
- 1/3 bottle pomegranate molasses (on this occasion Iranian OR Arabic will do)
- 150ml plain yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 1 level teaspoon Turkish pepper (or chilli – but use less) flakes
- 1 medium leg lamb, boned (if your butcher is as nice as ours, get him to cut the bones, and then check out the bonus recipe below)
- 2-3 heads spring garlic, finely chopped
- 1 small bunch spring onions, finely chopped
- 5-6 carrots (flaccid ones will do), peeled and cut into quarters lengthways
Mix the first six ingredients together in a tub big enough to accommodate the joint.Remove any of the chunkier pieces of fat from the lamb, and then lower it into the marinade, using your hands to rub it in all over. Mr. Shopkeeper has recently discovered ziplock bags (it’s bound up with his general passion for everything that Ikea sells) – and yes – you could, at this stage, deploy such a thing. Leave the meat for at least a couple of hours – 6 hours, or overnight, would be better still.
When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to gas mark 7 (220C). Strew the chopped spring garlic and onions across the centre of a roasting pan, and arrange the lamb (and all the marinade) on top. Cover with foil and bake for around 20 minutes before adding the carrots around the sides of the meat, rolling them over in the pomegranate sauce. Recover and cook for another 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to gas mark 5 (190C), remove the foil and cook for another 10-15 minutes (for pink lamb – more if you unaccountably prefer your lamb well done). Wrap the lamb in foil and allow it to rest while you return the pan to the oven to allow the carrot to caramelise some more.
Serve with salad and flat breads, or couscous, or rice, or even roast pots.
Bonus recipe: AB GUSHT (see image above). We have already told you about this wonderfully comforting Iranian institution in our recipe for Reshteh Pulao. It is THE BEST WAY to use left over bones (unless you have a dog, natch) – a super thrifty soup/cornershop lunch.
Simply place your chopped lamb bones in a pan with a tin of chick peas (drained), a handful of lentils or chana dal, 1 large chopped onion, 2-3 dried limes, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and a sprinkling of pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 45 minutes or until the lentils/dal are cooked. Cut two medium potatoes into chunks and add these to the mix and at this stage you can season with salt to taste. Bubble until the potatoes are just starting to fall apart, and then enjoy with plenty of warm bread. Don’t forget to suck the marrow out of the bones – it’s the best bit. Mrs. S. rarely eats meat, but this is absolutely one of her fave comfort foods.