Chargrilled Lamb Salad with Mint, Feta & Peas

A simple, delicious and summery salad - perfect for days when you don’t feel like cooking.

Ingredients

• 500g lamb backstrap
• 200g baby peas, frozen
• 300g snow peas or sugar snap peas
• 150g marinated feta
• 1/2 bunch mint, leaves torn
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley leaves
• watercress or baby salad leaves
• toasted pinenuts
• pickled red onion

Lamb marinade

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbs dried mint leaves
• 8 tbs olive oil
• Salt & pepper

Vinaigrette

• 100ml olive oil
• 2 tbs sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste
• little castor sugar to taste
• Salt & pepper

Pickled Red Onions

• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3rd cup sugar
• 1 tbs salt
• few black peppercorns & bayleaf
• 1 red onion, finely sliced

Method

For the Lamb

1. Combine the marinade ingredients and spread over the lamb backstraps.
2. Place in a ziplock bag and marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours, or, if possible, overnight.
3. Remember to bring the lamb out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking.
4. Heat a BBQ hotplate, or a chargrill plate or frypan on the stove-top, to medium-high, and brown the lamb well on both sides.
5. Three minutes on each side should be sufficient to give you pink lamb.
6. Rest the meat, covered, while you make the salad.

For the salad

1. Cook the peas in boiling salted water, drain, and refresh in cold water.
2. Blanch the snowpeas, drain, and refresh in cold water.

For the vinaigrette

1. Combine all the ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well to combine.

To serve

1. Toss the peas, snowpeas, watercress, parsley and mint with a little vinaigrette.
2. Layer the salad on to a serving plate, adding the marinated feta, red pickled onions and pine nuts.
3. Top with the rested lamb slices, and drizzle over more vinaigrette.

Pickled Red Onions

1. In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, salt and spices to a boil. Take off the heat. Add the onion slices and allow to cool.
2. Store in a glass container in the fridge for at least 3 weeks.