Middle Eastern lamb, tabbouleh and beetroot
Serves: 8
Prep time: 1 hrTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Kris Kirkham
Middle Eastern lamb, tabbouleh and beetroot
Try our lighter roast lamb next time you host Sunday lunch
Serves: 8
Prep time: 1 hrTotal time: 
See more recipes
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
607Kcal
Fat
29gr
Saturates
9gr
Carbs
37gr
Sugars
15gr
Fibre
5gr
Protein
47gr
Salt
1.5gr
Rebecca Woollard
Rebecca Woollard started her culinary career as a chalet cook. She is now a food stylist and recipe writer with 10 years of magazine experience.
See more of Rebecca Woollard’s recipes
Rebecca Woollard
Rebecca Woollard started her culinary career as a chalet cook. She is now a food stylist and recipe writer with 10 years of magazine experience.
See more of Rebecca Woollard’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1.5kg butterflied leg of lamb (from a 1.9kg leg), or 2 x 650g boneless butterflied lamb leg joints, trimmed
- 200g natural yogurt
- 1½ tbsp ground cumin
- ½ tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½-1 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
For the beetroot
- 1x 500g bunch beetroot, trimmed, peeled and sliced as thinly as possible
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 4 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 150g natural yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
- 2 tbsp chopped dill
- ½ tsp sumac (optional)
For the tabbouleh
- 200g couscous or bulgur wheat
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
- 2 preserved lemons
- 200g pomegranate seeds
- 100g each mint and coriander, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 50g flaked almonds, toasted
- lemon wedges, to serve
Step by step
- Marinate the lamb and the beetroot the day before. Put the lamb in a non-metallic dish and make small incisions all over with a sharp knife. Mix the yogurt with the spices and salt and spread all over the lamb, massaging it in well. Cover and chill overnight.
- Put the sliced beetroot in a wide, shallow dish. Pour over the olive oil and pomegranate molasses and sprinkle with salt. Toss together, cover and chill overnight, turning once or twice during marinating to make sure that all the slices are evenly coated.
- Next day preheat the oven to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7. Line a roasting tin with foil, add a grill rack and sit the lamb on it as flat as you can, well basted with the marinade from the dish. Roast for 30 minutes for pink or 40 minutes for well done, then heat the grill to high and grill the top of the lamb for 5-8 minutes until lightly charred. Remove, cover loosely with foil and leave to rest.
- While the lamb is roasting, cook the couscous or bulgur according to pack instructions, transfer to a serving dish and mix with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the lemon zest and juice, and seasoning. Cut the preserved lemons into quarters lengthways, discard the flesh inside and finely slice the peel – add this to the grains and cool slightly. Mix the pomegranate seeds, herbs and almonds through with the remaining olive oil, season to taste.
- Remove the beetroot from its juices and arrange on a platter. Spoon over 5-6 tablespoons of the marinating juices. Mix the yogurt with the garlic and lemon juice, then drizzle around a third of it on top of the beetroot and put the rest in a bowl for people to help themselves to. Scatter over the dill and sumac then finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
- Slice the lamb quite thinly and arrange on a platter with the lemon wedges. Take to the table with the tabbouleh, beetroot and yogurt. Serve family-style, letting everyone help themselves.
