My friends are accustomed to a “pinch and punch” text every month and if some recipients get up early enough they may get to pinch and punch me first.
I have been doing this for over twenty years and yes some may say I need to get a life and that may well be true but this is my way of keeping in contact with my buddies.
I have a very dear friend of Greek heritage who suggested that I extend my tradition of “P&P” each month to my blog with a “P&P” recipe of the month. Any excuse writing and sharing another one of my recipes.
So here it is the inaugural “P&P” recipe dedicated to my buddy Alex, yasoo and ef̱charistó̱ to you.
GREEK LAMB BACKSTRAPS
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 lamb backstraps
1 zucchinni
4 preserved vine leaves, rinsed, dried
100g Greek feta
1 tablespoon currants, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes, drained, chopped
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons sumac
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil
Method
Place backstraps in a bowl. Using a v-slicer or Japanese mandolin, slice zucchinni lengthways into 2-3mm-thick slices. Place in a separate bowl. Cut vine leaves in half and then fold lengthways to form long strips and set aside. Pat feta dry with paper towel, cut into 2cm thick long pieces. Combine currants and pine nuts in a small bowl.
Combine cumin, sumac, garlic and oil in a separate bowl, and season with salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of spice mixture to zucchini and the remaining coat the lamb and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Place a piece of feta on a strip of meat and top with currant mixture. Roll up to enclose with vine leaf, repeat with remaining lamb. Brush vine-leaf parcels with spice mixture.
Heat a char-grill pan over medium-high heat and cook the zucchini until golden and soft, set aside. Increase the heat to high and cook the lamb parcels for 5-7 minutes on each side of the char-grill and allow to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes before serving.
Serve the lamb and the zucchini with roasted potatoes sprinkled with Greek oregano and a tomato and kalamata olive salad. The radish tzatziki that is on the blog from Garden2kitchen recipes would be delicious with this dish.
