To celebrate #LoveLambWeek and Organic September, I have created this Moroccan Lamb Traybake – a show stopping main that takes less than 45 minutes to make and only uses one pan! Perfect for a stress-free dinner party but easy peasy enough to make on a weeknight.
Did you know this week is #LoveLambWeek? I am a huge fan of lamb – it’s super tasty, wonderfully versatile and is the basis for a many an easy peasy meal. In fact, some of my absolute favourite recipes on this blog feature lamb: my Lamb Rogan Josh, Lamb Koftes and Slow Roast Ras el Hanout Lamb, for example, are all big favourites.
And did you know, this is the time of year we should actually be enjoying British lamb? We usually think of spring as being the time to enjoy lamb and many of us have lamb at Easter, but the main season for British lamb is actually from June to December (If you think about it most British lambs are still gamboling on the hills at Easter). In fact, lamb is still lamb until it is 12 months old (when it becomes hogget) and lamb is often more flavoursome when it’s a little bit older and more mature. The lamb we normally eat at Easter is either from New Zealand (because it’s autumn in New Zealand, when it is spring here) or born in winter from ewes artificially stimulated to get pregnant out of season. Check out this fascinating article for more information on eating British lamb in season.
Not only is it #LoveLambWeek, but it is also Organic September, a campaign run by the soil association to encourage us to eat more organic produce. So what better way to celebrate these two events than to cook a delicious dish featuring Organic British Lamb?
The lamb may be British but this dish is inspired by the flavours of North Africa. Regular readers of this blog will know I am a huge fan of North African flavours and I have the idea of a Moroccan Lamb Traybake in mind for a while – Moroccan spices go so well with lamb – and I have already shared several Moroccan-style lamb dishes on my blog, but I’ve never made a Moroccan inspired traybake before – time to rectify that!
I am such a big fan of traybakes as it is such an easy way to cook – throw some vegetables and meat into a tray, pop it in the oven and leave it to do its thing and less than an hour later you have a delicious dinner and hardly any washing up.
I have chosen lamb chops for this dish as they cook very quickly in a hot oven and so are perfect for a quick and easy dinner when time is short. They are also easy to get hold of – and you can usually buy organic ones – not all cuts of lamb are easy to source if you want to buy organic – I got these from Tesco.
To flavour the lamb I have used a very simple marinade made from harissa, lemon juice, olive oil and honey – if you have got time, you could marinade the lamb for an hour or more but, if time is tight, just 10 minutes will do – the rest of the marinade gets thrown into the traybake too, so the flavours permeate the whole dish.
I have also roasted some delicious veggies in the tin: butternut squash, aubergine, red onion and red pepper – you could throw in some bashed up cloves of garlic too if you like. Make sure your veggies are starting to roast nicely before you add the lamb chops, as the chops don’t need as long to roast. I like to roast the veggies first for 15 minutes and then add the lamb and cook for a further 15 minutes – the lamb should be just pink inside and the veggies slightly charred.
This meal would be great served with rice, pittas or flatbreads, but to give it the real wow factor I have served the lamb and veggies on a bed of wholewheat couscous and created a gorgeous garnish from coriander, parsley, pistachios and rose petals – it takes seconds but makes the whole dish look stunning. (You don’t have to throw it all over the tablecloth too – I just got a bit carried away while I was taking the photographs!)
To enjoy with this dish, I recommend a Cotes du Rhone, another Grenache based blend from Southern France or a Garnacha from Spain. Alternatively, if you can find one, a red from Morocco would work well here!
Moroccan Lamb Traybake
Ingredients
Traybake
- 500 g butternut squash roughly half a large one, chopped into thick slices
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 1 small aubergine chopped into thick slices
- 1 large red onion chopped into 8 wedges
- 8 garlic cloves skin on but well bashed (optional)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 8 organic lamb chops roughly 800g
Marinade
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon harissa paste be careful – harissa pastes can vary in heat levels!
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Couscous
- 200 g Wholewheat couscous or normal couscous
- 400 ml boiling water
- Salt and pepper
Garnish
- 1 tablespoon dried rose petals I used Tesco Ingredients Rose Petals
- 25 g pistachio kernels roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander roughly chopped
Method
- Preheat your oven to 220C and prepare your veg.
- Put the butternut squash, aubergine, pepper, onion and garlic (if using) in a roasting tray and add a tablespoon of olive oil, plus some salt and pepper. Toss the veggies in the oil and then put the tray in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile mix together the marinade ingredients and add the lamb. Turn the lamb in the marinade to ensure it is thoroughly coated and leave for 10 minutes (do this earlier and marinade for longer if you can).
- When the veggies have been roasting for 15 minutes, remove them from the oven and give them a stir. Arrange the lamb on top and tip over all of the marinade.
- Cook for a further 15 minutes and then remove from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
- While the traybake is cooking, prepare the couscous. Weigh out the couscous into a large bowl, add salt and pepper to taste (I do about 10 twists each) and then pour over the boiling water. Cover with a plate and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- Finally prepare the garnish by mixing together the garnish ingredients.
- To serve, tip the couscous out onto a large serving platter, arrange the veggies and then the lamb on top and scatter over the garnish. Enjoy with a good bottle of red or rose wine!
Pin Moroccan Lamb Traybake for later
I am linking this up to Recipe of the Week, Brilliant Blog Posts, The Food Calendar, Cook Once Eat Twice, Cook Blog Share and Sunday Fitness and Food (co-hosted by Marathons & Motivation and Ilka’s Blog).
Corina says
5th September 2016 at 6:36 pmThis looks so tasty and I love the sound of the herb and pistachio garnish! I don’t think I use pistachios enough but they are really tasty and I bet they give this dish a real North African flavour. Thank you so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice – I am always tempted by your recipes! It is showing up in the linky now too.
Eb Gargano says
6th September 2016 at 11:00 amThanks Corina! I love pistachios, but like you I definitely don’t use them enough! I have recently discovered that the supermarket sells them with their shells off, which makes like so much easier! I do so love North African and Middle Eastern food – I love the flavours and I love how easy peasy so many of the dishes are to make (or at least my versions of them are!) Thanks for fixing the linky problem – not sure what went wrong there, but glad it’s sorted now. This is such a great recipe to make one day for dinner and have cold for lunch the next day as a couscous salad. 🙂 Eb x
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
6th September 2016 at 12:43 pmEb – You’ve done it again a really tasty sound and looking recipe that is easy to make. Right up my street. Like you I am rather partial to North African spices and flavours too. Ive pinned for later
Eb Gargano says
6th September 2016 at 1:10 pmAw, thanks Jacqui – that’s what I really try hard to achieve, so I’m glad it’s working! I just love these kind of flavours and it’s great to be able to have them in a quick and easy format for busy days. Thanks for pinning and for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Laura says
6th September 2016 at 6:37 pmBig lamb lovers in our house (shame it’s so expensive!) and this looks delicious. The veg look lovely too! Thanks for sharing x #cookblogshare
Eb Gargano says
6th September 2016 at 8:54 pmOooh yes, it is delicious. I like to have a few veggie dishes in the week so I can afford to splurge on a couple of lovely good quality meaty ones…like this lamb. Thanks for linking up – will be over to check out that delicious looking soup soon! Eb x
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
6th September 2016 at 7:58 pmYum! x
Eb Gargano says
6th September 2016 at 8:58 pmThank you! Xx
Jenny Eatwell says
8th September 2016 at 9:10 pmI absolutely adore, adore, adore this dish. My very favourite meat is lamb, unfortunately, I am in a majority of one in my house as everyone else is too scared of the fat they bring with them. So I might have to come back and salivate over this dish a few times and fix my hankering by the use of imagination and your photographs. 😀
Eb Gargano says
8th September 2016 at 9:35 pmAw, thanks Jenny! Sorry to hear you are the only one who likes lamb in your house – make it anyway and they can eat the veg and couscous and you can have all the lamb!! 😉 Eb x
Jenny Eatwell says
8th September 2016 at 9:37 pmYes, you would think that would be the answer, however unfortunately they don’t like couscous either and one will only eat veggies under duress and he’s old enough to know better. LOL Hey ho, I can dream. 😉
Eb Gargano says
8th September 2016 at 9:42 pmOh no! Hmmm – maybe you could wait till they are out, then – and have it all to yourself!! 😉
Jenny Eatwell says
8th September 2016 at 9:43 pmYay! Result! LOL 😀
Charlotte Oates says
10th September 2016 at 10:31 pmAlways love the sound of your lamb dishes and this one is no exception.
I had no idea that you don’t buy British lamb in the spiring so I’ve been educated 🙂
Eb Gargano says
11th September 2016 at 5:10 pmThanks Charlotte. I do love cooking with lamb 🙂 It’s funny isn’t it – like you I had always though of lamb as being a spring thing, until I read a couple or articles about it a while back. And of course it makes total sense when you think about it…And it gives me a great excuse to cook a lot with lamb this autumn. Eb x
Angela says
11th September 2016 at 1:30 pmI LOVE lamb! This sounds amazing…Pinned 🙂
Eb Gargano says
11th September 2016 at 5:11 pmAw, thanks Angela. I love lamb too – I’m always dreaming of new and interesting things to do with it 🙂 Eb x
Sarah James @ Tales From The Kitchen Shed says
25th September 2016 at 6:12 pmI love your tray bakes Eb & this one is a real winner! All my favourite flavours, definitely one for me to try x
Eb Gargano says
25th September 2016 at 6:21 pmAw, thanks Sarah! They are such fab flavours, aren’t they? I love harissa so much and it is so great with lamb. Glad you like my traybakes – I’ve two more currently in the pipeline!! They make such easy, stress free meals and always taste so good. Eb x
Gillian Thompson says
17th March 2017 at 10:57 amBrilliant, going to try this next week and will include in my Weekly Meal Plan No.12 if that’s ok with you. All credits and link back to your post of course. 🙂
Eb Gargano says
17th March 2017 at 11:58 amYey – hope you like it as much as we did 🙂 Of course you may include it in your meal plan. So long as it credits me and links back to my recipe that’s absolutely fine 🙂 Eb x