FREEKEH & CHICKPEA SALAD WITH PULLED HARISSA LAMB
This for me is the ultimate warm and meaty salad and uses another ancient grain – freekeh, which is young wheat. As this grain is popular in the Middle East, it seems only appropriate to cook it with chickpeas, harissa and lamb. The deep layers of flavour will seduce you...
FEEDS 6
1 lamb shoulder, around 2kg (4lb 8oz)
3 tbsp rose harissa
2 tsp garlic powder
3 onions, sliced
1.5l (6⅓ cups) vegetable stock
700g jar of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed (about 540g/1lb 3oz total drained weight)
200g (7oz/1¼ cups) freekeh
300g (10½oz) sugar snap peas
small handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves
small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
TO SERVE
small handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves
Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/320°F/gas mark 3.
Place the lamb shoulder onto a chopping board and rub the harissa and garlic powder all over it. Put the sliced onions into a large roasting tin and spread out to cover the base. Sit the lamb on top and pour 500ml (2 cups) of the stock around it to cover the onion. Roast the lamb in the oven for 4 hours. You don’t need to do anything to it in this time other than look at it longingly.
When you have 30 minutes’ cooking time left on the lamb, add the chickpeas to the roasting tin and coat in the juices.
Add the freekeh to a saucepan and cover with the remaining stock. Bring to the boil and cook according to the packet instructions (usually simmering for 12–15 minutes). Drain off any excess liquid and set aside.
Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the sugar snaps for 4 minutes, then drain and add them to the freekeh. Add the herbs and a little seasoning.
By now the lamb should be super-tender. Remove it from the oven and transfer to a chopping board. Using two forks, shred the meat.
Pour off any excess lamb fat from the roasting tin and then stir the onions and chickpeas together. Tip the freekeh onto a large serving platter, mound on the chickpeas and onions, and heap the lamb on top. Drizzle over any juices left in the roasting tin. Scatter over some fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately – hopefully to a round of applause.
