The Recipe Room

I try not to eat a lot of meat, but recently I have taken a shining to finding lamb dishes, and the other day I went on a splurge to a Moroccan restaurant searching for something new and interesting. There I realised that couscous is a rice substitute that I had overlooked. After seeing that I could combine lamb and couscous together, I thought I’d try this lamb with couscous and apricot salad, which is a really light and fresh lunch that won’t leave you feeling heavy in any way.

If you are a vegetarian, you could also try this pistachio and cranberry couscous with goat’s cheese. Either way, couscous makes a satisfying salad!

As it is equally delicious served warm or cold, it is also ideal for a spring picnic. Just put the lamb in one container and the couscous and apricot salad in another and combine them on arrival!

What we need:

• 600g lamb, cubed or cut into small pieces
• 400g of couscous
• 12 dried apricots
• 1 tablespoon of pressed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 dl of cashew nuts
• 30g raisins
• a handful of chopped almonds
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 pinches of ground pepper
• 2 pinches of salt
• 10 coriander leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick (to garnish)

How to make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
2. Fry the lamb in a frying pan in the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Place the meat in an oven-safe form and place in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes until ready.
4. In a sauce pan, boil the couscous according to the instructions on the package.
5. Meanwhile, chop the apricots into small pieces.
6. Mix the olive oil with the lemon juice and cinnamon.
7. Add the apricots, cashew nuts, raisins and almonds with the lemon juice/olive oil mixture.
8. Add the couscous when it is ready. Mix it all carefully. Add salt and pepper according to taste.
9. Serve the couscous salad as the base on a plate and place the lamb on top.
10. Sprinkle over the coriander leaves and garnish with the cinnamon stick.

Time needed: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Level: Easy

Tags: apricot, butter, cashews, coriander, couscous, lamb, lamb with couscous and apricot salad, lemon juice, quick, raisins, salad

This entry was posted on Friday, 1 June, 2012 at 2:11 pm by Leanne Summers and is filed under Less than 1 hour, Main Courses, Meal for 4 people. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed RSS 2.0. You can leave a comment, or make a trackback from your own blog.