Marinated Spring Lamb Flatbreads with Labneh & Pickled Cucumber Salad

Serves:  6 people

Preparation Time: 1 hour (+ 12 hours to marinate the lamb)

Cooking Time: 1 Hour

Instructions

FOR THE FLATBREADS

Place the flour into a bowl of a standing mixer with a dough hook attached. Next, add the salt and yoghurt and then mix it on a slow speed for 2–3 minutes until the dough is smooth and it comes away from the bowl (you can also do this by hand if you don’t have a mixer). Transfer the dough to a flour-dusted bowl and cover, then leave it to rest for 20-30 minutes at room temperature. Melt the butter and combine it with the olive oil and the minced garlic, leave it on the side for later.

Dust a clean work surface and rolling pin with flour, then divide the flatbread dough in half. Cut each of these halves into 6 equal pieces, leaving you with 12 pieces of dough. Flatten each piece of dough with your hands, then use a rolling pin to roll each piece into a disc roughly the size of a side plate. Cut 6 lines into each flatbread, leaving a 3cm gap at each end. Heat a griddle or large non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Once hot, cook each flatbread for 1–2 minutes on each side until they puff up.

Once cooked, brush each flatbread liberally with garlic butter and keep warm.

FOR PICKLED CUCUMBER SALAD

Start by placing the sugar and cider vinegar into a small pan and bring to the boil. Roughly chop the chillies and add to this, allow to cool. Peel and slice the cucumber into discs the thickness of a R5 coin. 10 minutes before serving the flatbreads, place the cucumber discs into a bowl and pour over the pickling  liquor, and leave to marinate for 10 minutes while you finish up the salad. Wash the carrots and slice into thin slivers using a peeler, slice the apple into shoestring thick sticks, wash and thinly slice the radishes into discs, peel the onion and slice into 2mm thick discs, heat a non-stick pan on high and add the onion rings. Leave for a minute to slightly char and put aside to cool.

Tear or roughly chop the herbs and combine along with all the prepared salad ingredients, toss with the pickling liquid and olive oil and season with a good pinch of salt.

FOR THE LAMB

Roughly chop the garlic and chillies, peel and grate the pear, zest and juice the lemon, then combine all the ingredients together with the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper and use this to marinate the lamb overnight. Place a pan over a high heat. Wipe most of the marinade off the lamb and season with a little extra salt. Place the lamb in the pan one by one and cook until well-coloured on one side, then flip, cook for 3 minutes, then turn down the heat and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the pan and leave to rest for 5–8 minutes before thinly slicing.

To serve, generously spread the flatbread with labneh, Add the sliced lamb, then add a nice amount of the pickled cucumber salad, fold in half and enjoy.

PAIRING

Celebrate Spring by pairing this dish with a glass of Lanzerac Premium Range Sauvignon Blanc.