Leftovers are scrumptious in rolls – add lettuce, rocket, mint, and mayo if liked. Not that you are likely to have any!
Ingredients
—Lamb 2 Tbsp olive oil Large sprig rosemary broken into smallish pieces 1 Tbsp finely chopped preserved lemon rind 2 mini lamb ‘steaks’, or 1 lamb tenderloin, weighing about 220g (about 8 ounces) Freshly ground black pepper to taste Flaky sea salt Vegetables 4 Tbsp olive oil ¼ tsp smoked paprika ¼ tsp cumin seeds ½ tsp crushed coriander seeds 1 small eggplant (aubergine), sliced 2 small firm zucchini (courgettes) 6 firm cherry tomatoes, halved Flaky sea salt
Method
—You can check out the story about New Zealand’s National Lamb Day here
1 Start the lamb first. Put oil, rosemary and preserved lemon on a plate. Add lamb and turn it to coat with the marinade. Marinate lamb while preparing the vegetables.
Lamb marinating
2 Mix 3 tablespoons oil, paprika, cumin seeds and crushed coriander seeds (simply bash them with the edge of a pot if you don’t have a mallet), on a plate. Quickly pass eggplant slices through the seasoned oil and cook on a preheated barbecue hot plate, or in a hot ridged grill pan, until tender and a deep golden colour, turning often. Transfer to a plate.
Grilled vegetables
3 Add a little more oil to the bowl if necessary. Trim zucchini and slice each one lengthways into 3 slices. Score surface of zucchini slices with a sharp knife. Rub with a little oil and char-grill a few minutes a side. Transfer to plate with eggplant and season with a little salt. Char-grill tomatoes cut side down and add to plate.
4 Next cook the lamb. Scrape off the lemon and rosemary. Cook lamb on a preheated barbecue hot plate or in a hot ridged grill pan, for 2-3 minutes a side: the lamb should feel springy (medium-rare), but not bouncy (rare to uncooked). Adjust the cooking time to suit your cut of lamb, using the touch test as a guide. Add the lemon and rosemary to the hot plate or pan and cook gently until the lemon has coloured. Transfer to a plate. Transfer lamb to a board and season with black pepper and salt. Rest lamb for 5 minutes before slicing thinly across the grain of the meat with a sharp knife.
Char-grilled Lamb
Char-grilled lamb sliced
5 Assemble plates with grilled vegetables and sliced lemon, adding all the little bits of preserved lemon and spice. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
You can cook the lamb and vegetables on a barbecue hot plate (griddle), or in a ridged grill pan. If there is room, you can cook everything at the same time.
And check out the recipe for Lamb & Eggplant Burgers here
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