Grilled Lamb & Roasted Veg Salad

Easter has just passed and I dunno about you but we ate plenty of lamb in our house!  Lamb tastes SO good right now - I can't get enough of it.  We eat plenty of meat in AnotherFoodBloggers home, but I try to incorporate veg as much as possible too.  Gotta stay healthy!!  This salad is packed with flavour and pretty damn simple to make too.  After all, you just gotta chop the vegetables up and chuck 'em in the oven to roast.  Read on, and you'll see my tips on making a simple lemon tahini dressing to go with the delicious grilled lamb & roasted veg salad.

For us, there are only 2 ways to eat lamb.  It's either medium-rare or slow-cooked and falling off the bone.  Anything else is just.............not worth it (in my opinion!).  If I am going with medium-rare, it's gotta be the leg, loin, rack, or rump.  Slow-cooked lamb is probably my favorite slow-cooked food, so for this, I tend to use bone-in shoulder or shanks, and onto the BBQ they go.  Today's recipe I used butterflied lamb leg, so it cooks quicker, and I cooked it on the BBQ to give that delicious grilled lamb flavour.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

This salad is crazy simple and crazy good.  The beauty of it is you can cook both grilled lamb and roasted vegetables at the same time.  While the lamb rests (more on that later), the veg will cool sufficiently to make the roasted vegetable salad.

To make the salad, you simply cut onions, squash, sprouts & red chili up into bite-sized pieces and roast them in the oven with a good glug of olive oil and seasoning.  Bang it in the oven @ 180c  for 18-20  mins and then leave to cool slightly.  When cooking the roasted vegetables, you want a little bite left in them, so bare this in mind when cutting them.  I chop my onions into 6 wedges, the sprouts I cut the larger ones in half, and the smaller ones leave whole.  The squash I cut around the same size as the onion.  Hopefully, a helpful tip for you to make sure you get even cooking throughout!

Lemon Tahini Dressing

A cracking dressing that's got a good shelf (fridge) life! Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free to boot this salad dressing is so good that my (PICKY) nearly 4 years old was wanting to just drink it straight.  She ate it for lunch, as a sauce for her steak dinner that night and again the next day as a dip for her sausages and chips!

Salad dressing is generally something that's SUPER easy to make - like everything when you know how;)  Well, here is how to do it.  Grab all the ingredients, put them in a jar or bowl and either whisk it up or shake it like a MOFO and job is done!  It's really that simple, so why not experiment a little yourself.  This particular dressing will keep for up to a week in the fridge and tastes great over any simple salad.

Grilled Lamb

As mentioned before, I'm a lover of either medium-rare lamb or slow-cooked lamb.  Living in Australia and having generally glorious weather year-round in Brisbane, I tend to BBQ as much as possible.  I like the fact that the clean up is less; the house doesn't get too hot when cooking and, most importantly, the flavour profile grilled meat gives.  Honestly, you can't beat it.  I would STRONGLY recommend using your BBQ whenever and wherever possible, to grill the lamb.  After all, it wouldn't be grilled lamb & roasted veg salad without grilling it - would it?

Check out my tips below on grilled lamb or read this article to learn more!

Cooking Butterflied Lamb Leg

Remove the meat from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature.  Why is this important? Only because if you have a cold piece of meat, then it will take longer for the center of the meat to cook to your desired temperature and therefore leave you with overcooked edges and an undercooked center!  Season, season, season.  For this, I simply use a load of salt and a good helping of olive oil.  You can add fancy rubs, garlic, add herbs like thyme or rosemary, but I feel enough is going on in the salad that I just keep it simple.

Make sure your BBQ or oven is hot, and then you have 2 options here.  If I was cooking in the oven I would sear it in a hot pan to get a nice crust and then into the oven for the desired time (approx 25 minutes) OR if I was using the BBQ I like to put it on indirect heat - the side away from the heat for 20 - 25 minutes until it gets to my desired temperature.  I am a medium-rare fan, so I aim for 54(ish)c.  I then sear it for a minute each side to brown it up.

The next step is just as crucial as any - leave your meat alone!!  Don't touch it, resist the urge to look at it, play with it, or to have a quick taste.  You are doing NOBODY a favour!!  Rest the grilled butterflied lamb leg alone for 10 minutes.  This will allow the juices to redistribute and leave you with a perfectly pink piece of meat that doesn't leak everywhere..............;)

Can I Eat Grilled Lamb Salad Cold?

100% you can! In fact, my wife and I didn't finish it all and enjoyed it cold the next day for lunch.  The beauty with grilling lamb medium rare and resting it correctly is the next day it's still moist and tender to eat.  As long as you don't overdress the salad and store it in an airtight container, then you are all good!  I actually threw a little extra dressing on top the next day.  The key is to either leave the grilled lamb as a whole piece and slice it thin the next day OR make sure when you cut it on the day of cooking to slice it thin then.

Wine Pairing

Now to the fun part - what would I drink with this?  These days it's just ALCOHOL and counting down the hours to wine o clock!!  But, if I was taking myself seriously for a second and wanted to enjoy a great food and wine match, then I would look no further than a Valpolicella from Italy.  Italy has struggled a lot recently, but one thing they defo don't struggle with is their wine-making ability.

I choose a Valpolicella Superiore from Ca'Botta.  I picked this beauty up from Wine Direct here in Australia.  Firstly, what's the difference between Valpolicella Superiore V's Classico?  Keeping it real simple, it's the aging process.  The Superiore part means it is made from the wineries Superiore grapes, but also, the wine is aged for a minimum of 1 year.  You then have Ripasso, which is made over using the partially dried grape skins from Amarone.  What's Amarone?  Jeepers, this is getting confusing!!  Amarone is made in the Valpolicella region of Verona and is made using partially dried corvina grapes, amongst other grapes.

Back to the Ca Botta Valpolicella Superiore.  This wine is beautifully rich & juicy.  Flavours of raisins, fig, balsamic, vanilla, clove, tobacco, and a little chocolate too make this wine something to really savour and to enjoy develop in your glass.  I would recommend either decanting or popping the cork an hour before drinking if you don't own a decanter.  It works beautifully with grilled lamb and to be honest just perfectly on its own too!

Alternative Salads

Not in the mood for grilled lamb & roasted veg salad??  All good -  check out these alternatives and enjoy!!

Asian Papaya Salad by Yours Truly

Gluten Free - Quinoa Tabouli by Alexandra Cook of 'It's Not Complicated Recipes'

Panzanella Salad by Yours Truly

Fennel & Orange Salad by Jan Elle of 'Plant Based Folk'

Smashed Cucumber Salad by Yours Truly

Roast Duck, Caramelised Grapefruit & Wombok Salad by Phenie Ooi of 'The Devil Wears Salad'

Puttanesca Salad by Robyn Jones of 'Mrs Jones Kitchen'

Happy Cooking and Happy Eating Friends!!