Browse All Recipes

Spiced lamb with cracked wheat and green olive salad

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for spiced lamb with cracked wheat and green olive salad.

By Lisa Featherby
  • 30 mins preparation
  • 40 mins cooking plus resting
  • Serves 6 - 8
  • Print
    Print
Spiced lamb with cracked wheat and green olive salad

Ingredients

  • 1 boned lamb shoulder (about 1.5kg), at room temperature
  • To serve: lemon wedges and harissa
Spice mixture
  • 100 gm butter, melted
  • 1 tbsp each cumin seeds and coriander seeds, coarsely crushed in a mortar and pestle
  • ½ tsp fennel seeds, coarsely crushed in a mortar and pestle
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
Cracked wheat salad
  • 300 gm cracked freekeh
  • 1 small white onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cups (firmly packed) flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
  • 180 gm (1½ cups) pitted green olives, coarsely crushed
  • Juice of 3 lemons
  • ½ preserved lemon, flesh and pith discarded, rind rinsed and finely chopped
  • 150 ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2½ tbsp pomegranate seeds, to serve

Method

Main
  • 1
    For spice mixture, combine ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
  • 2
    For cracked wheat salad, cook freekeh in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender (8-10 minutes), then drain in a fine sieve and spread on a tray to dry (20 minutes). Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl, add cooled freekeh, season to taste, toss to combine and refrigerate until required. The salad can be made a day ahead.
  • 3
    Season lamb shoulder and char-grill over medium heat, basting occasionally with spice mixture (fat may flare, so turn often), until fat is golden-brown and, for medium-rare, a meat thermometer reads 60C, or a metal skewer inserted for 20 seconds feels hot when touched to your lip (20-30 minutes). Set aside to rest (15 minutes), then slice and serve with cracked freekeh salad, lemon wedges and harissa.

Notes

Drink Suggestion: A generous, supple McLaren Vale tempranillo. Drink suggestion by Max Allen