This 2015 business. Reeeeally hard to get into. But while I have had a slow start, this dish is worth the wait!
Now I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but, “tooot tooot!”, this dish I made up is the best!
Perfectly lean, tender, spiced lamb. A healthy and satisfying salad of quinoa and crunchy asparagus, with the beautiful fragrant freshness from the perfect mix of herbs. A nutty crunch from toasted almonds. Creamy, gooey quail egg yolks. The saltiness of the olives. And to top it all off, the creamy, slightly sweet yoghurt and a zesty, yet hearty and sweet raisin and eshallot dressing bringing everything together. Stop!
Serves 4
Author: Eatin' Mess
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup quinoa
- 12 quail eggs
- 2 bunches asparagus
- ¼ cup loosely packed mint
- ¼ cup loosely packed dill
- ½ cup loosely packed flat leaf parsley
- ¾ cup roasted chopped almonds
- ¼ cup roughly chopped green olives
- Sumac to serve
Dressing
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon
- 1 large eshallot, in half and finely sliced
- ¼ cup roughly chopped raisins
- ¼ tsp raw sugar
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- Salt
- Pepper
Lamb
- 2 lamb backstrap
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground fennel
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp sumac
Sweet Yoghurt
- 1 cup plain yoghurt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbs maple syrup
Instructions
- First, get your quinoa boiling in a pot of salted water. Cook according to the instructions. Once cooked, drain and spread out on a baking tray. If you have a bit of time before serving you can let it dry out a bit, if pressed for time, I like to put it in a medium oven for 15 minutes. This gives a nice texture with some crunchy and some soft.
- Next, prep the rest of the salad ingredients. Boil the quail eggs for 3 minutes, then drain and refresh in cold water. Peel, cut in half and set aside.
- For the asparagus, chop any woody ends off and then chop into about 3cm batons. Blanch for about 1 minute, drain, refresh in ice cold water, once cool, drain again and then set aside.
- Roughly chop the herbs and set aside.
- To make the dressing, combine ingredients in an old jar and shake to combine until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
- Same thing for the yoghurt, combine and set aside.
- For the spiced lamb, place all spices in a dry pan, and toast lightly for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Sprinkle the lamb with olive oil and the spices and rub well on both sides.
- Next, heat up a griddle pan or a BBQ to high. Sear the lamb for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove, loosely cover with foil and allow to rest for about 5 minutes. Once rested, slice into about ½cm slices.
- Place all salad ingredients, except the quail eggs and sumac, in a large bowl, along with the dressing and toss well to combine. Make sure everything is evenly distributed and coated in dressing.
- To serve, generously spoon the salad on a plate, top with sliced lamb, a spoon of yoghurt and a sprinkle of sumac. Evenly share out the quail eggs and arrange in and around the salad.
- I promise you, this is the tastiest, salad you will ever have. And, not that I am into that kind of thing, but totally healthy!
