Chopped Turkish or ‘spoon’ salads as they are sometimes known, make an easy and delicious topping for barbecued meat, chicken and fish.
Serves: 6–8
INGREDIENTS
1½ kilogram boned and butterflied shoulder of lamb
Marinade
¼ cup olive oil
2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika
1 teaspoon each ground cumin and fennel
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
finely grated zest and juice 1 orange
freshly ground pepper
Turkish salad
2 large vine tomatoes
1 cup diced telegraph cucumber
1 cup diced fennel or celery
¼ cup chopped green olives
2 spring onions, finely chopped
seeds from 1 fresh pomegranate or 1/3 cup dried cranberries
small handful basil, finely chopped
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
METHOD
Marinade: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and season with pepper. Place the lamb in a large shallow dish and rub the marinade well onto both sides. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours but if time permits up to 24 hours. Remove from the fridge 1 hour before cooking.
Turkish salad: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
To cook: Preheat a grill plate. Season the lamb generously with sea salt and grill over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes each side or until done to your liking. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the meat. Transfer to a large plate, cover loosely and rest for 10 minutes.
To serve: Slice the lamb thinly and arrange on a serving platter. Pour over any meat resting juices and top with some of the salad, serving the remaining salad separately.
Pantry note: Sweet smoked paprika is available from gourmet food stores and good supermarkets.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.