January 31, 2018
Last week I recreated a meal that is one of my mum’s staples for weeknight cooking. I’ve never tried to recreate it, and I’m not sure why because I love it so much! So when she came over to give me company when I was at my wits end with a new puppy and made me this dish, I realised just how much I’d been missing it. It may not be typical comfort food, but it is definitely my comfort food. I think anything that reminds you of home can be classified as comfort food really, and if it isn’t covered in cheese yet still provides comfort, I think it’s a pretty big win!
I don’t know where mum found this original recipe, but she started making this dish during the week when she was strapped for time. It was always absolutely amazing, and yet over the time I’ve been living out of home, I’ve never really cooked it. But when she cooked it for me a few weeks ago, I decided it was high time that I got the recipe out of her amazing cooking brain and made it for myself.
This dish is super easy to make, I mean really. It doesn’t even require much chopping up of ingredients, all you have to do is toss a salad together and cook the mince, and you’ve got a delicious meal on the table in about 30 minutes. Although you do need to stir the mince a fair bit to avoid sticking, you can still get the other prep done in between and then you’ve got a really speedy meal on your hands!
I call this a feast because I love how it looks all laid out on the table. I love the idea of grabbing bits and pieces and bringing them together into one meal, whether you want to make it a wrap, scoop the dip up with the bread, or just have it on its own. You can really cater to anyone with this meal (except for vegetarians or vegans…sorry), and that’s what I love about it. I have to say my partner walked in the door and was so excited to eat dinner because of the amazing smell of the lamb cooking. He even said it reminded him of my mum’s cooking too! It’s amazing how some smells bring back such strong memories. I thought it was just me that found this meal nostalgic…it turns out that he did too! I was so chuffed to be compared to cooking greatness (i.e. my mother) as I could only dream to become as good a cook as her! But if you want to try, like I did, look no further than this delicious lamb dish – It’s a mum weeknight cooking staple!
- 500 grams good quality lamb mince
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp dried chilli (optional)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3-4 handfuls baby spinach leaves
- 1 handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 1/4 red onion, diced
- 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, sliced into halves
- 1/2 cucumber, diced
- juice of one lemon
- 1 tub baba ganoush or hummus
- 3-4 flatbread wraps
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In a fry pan over a medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and stir until it becomes translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and chilli, and cook for an additional minute.
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Add the lamb mince to the pan and break apart using a cooking spoon. Add a generous serving of cracked pepper, a little salt, and the mixed spice, and stir to combine.
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Cook the lamb, stirring frequently, until the lamb has browned and become crispy, about 10 minutes. It should be a deep golden brown in colour, and crispy.
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While you are cooking the lamb, prepare the salad by chopping the ingredients and adding to a salad bowl. Pour the lemon juice over the salad, and toss to combine.
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To serve, place the salad, dip of choice and the flatbread on the table with the lamb still in the frypan with a heatmap under it. Allow diners to make their own wraps using the salad, dip and lamb, or use the bread to soak up the juices on their plate.
Although it seems like there are a few steps to this one, it is actually really simple to make. My mum, aka cooking extraordinaire, makes the hummus herself on top of everything else! I opted to use some baba ganoush that I had made during the week (I’ll post the recipe soon), but you could easily buy hummus or baba ganoush to go with this meal to make it a little quicker. Or you could make it yourself if you have some chickpeas, tahini, olive oil and lemon! Super easy, super tasty!
I love how all the flavours of this meal come together into a delicious plate of middle eastern flavours. The fresh salad with lemon really cuts through the richness of the lamb, and it is perfectly accompanied by the dip. My mum sometimes serves the lamb on top of the hummus for a really pretty presentation idea. You could also easily serve this without the flatbread wraps. I had these on hand for my partner who absolutely loved making a delicious wrap for himself filled with the meat, dip and salad, but I had it without the wrap and it was still absolutely delicious. It is all too easy to eat a whole heap of this, and it is good that it is nice and light because of this!
I love how simple this meal is to make, but how delicious the results are! The lamb really only had one spice in it, but this spice packs so much flavour and works so perfectly with the lamb mince. It shows that sometimes the best meals have really simple recipes and don’t need a whole heap of herbs and spices added in to taste amazing! It also means that it is nice and easy to make, so although it looks really fancy when it’s finished, it is simple to get on the table! Perfect for weeknight cooking when you don’t have a lot of time.
So thanks mum for leading the way with delicious weeknight comfort food like this!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
