Serves: 4 - Time:
Zhoug, a hot but fragrant herb paste, may not be a familiar kitchen ingredient, but once you try it in this dish-coated over the lamb cutlets and aubergine cubes- you will be hooked. You can make your own spice paste but luckily the lovely people at Belazu have put it in a jar and now sell it at Waitrose. This is an incredibly simple dish to prepare-a throw-it-all-in-and-bake-it meal. You don’t have to serve the lamb and aubergines with the couscous but they do compliment each other very well and couscous is another incredibly simple ingredient to prepare.
Ingredients
- 170g jar zhoug
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 red onion, cut into thin wedges
- 2 aubergines, cut into 2cm cubes
- 8 lamb chops
- For the couscous
- 150g couscous
- 55g pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Method
- Heat the oven to 200˚c, fan oven 180˚c, mark 6. In a large mixing bowl mix together the zhoug paste, olive oil and lemon juice. Add the onion, aubergines and lamb chops and mix everything really well until the vegetables and lamb are coated with the paste. Set aside for 15 minutes to marinate.
- Tip the contents of the bowl into a large roasting tin-you want everything in one layer. If you haven’t got a large roasting tin use 2 smaller ones. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes then give everything a good turn in the tin and cook for a further 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
- While the lamb and veg are cooking you can prepare the couscous. Place the couscous in a mixing bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover the grains. Cover with cling film and leave for 15 minutes. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and stir in the pistachios and herbs. Season with salt and ground black pepper. I serve couscous at room temperature but if you want to serve it warm, just spoon it into an ovenproof dish and heat through for the last 6-8 minutes of the lamb and aubergine cooking time.
