Barbecued lamb with yoghurt, mint and cumin and caving in to commercial realism.

I entered the Irish Blog Awards, as most of you darling people know by now. While perusing the Blog Awards Ireland site and dreaming of the personal gratification and glory that could (might, may, may not, probably won’t, no chance sucker…) be bestowed on my humble blog, I noticed a Glenisk competition. Those who have read my rant on the subject of blog sponsorships / advertising might be forgiven for assuming (ass of u and me) that I did not approve of such things. Let’s get the record straight….

Where there is even a whisper of a chance of my winning something that will allow me share my meagre knowledge and small insights with (lord it over) others, I’m in. So when those beautiful, amazing, awesome people at Glenisk Yoghurt decided to put up a prize for the best recipe post featuring their yoghurt, I was in faster than you can add the bacteria to the delicious creamy milk.

My recipe is pretty simple stuff. It’s Barbecued Lamb with Yoghurt, Mint and Cumin and if you try it yourself you will agree it’s a winner.

Ingredients:

• 1 leg of lamb
• 1 pot of Glenisk Natural Yoghurt
• 1 big bunch of mint
• 4 teaspoons or so of cumin seeds
• Salt and pepper to season

Any of you who are “good with a knife” (and not in an argument after the pub kind of way) can de-bone the leg of lamb, like what I did here.

A small very sharp knife does the trick. Like the jokes, keep it close to the bone and it will work out well in the end.

Butterfly the leg (If you need instructions, best to get the butcher to do it while he is deboning it for you.). Next, dry fry the cumin seeds until the house is full of the aroma of the spice.

The aroma is nearly as heady as the heights the winner of this competition will reach…

Then grind it into a fine powder with a pestle and mortar. Rub this all over the butterflied leg. Then chop the mint roughly. That is, chop it into big-ish pieces.

A very generous (like the judges) portion of mint goes into this dish.

Pour the beautiful, natural, delicious Glenisk yoghurt into a plastic bag (There goes any chance of a win).

You have to admit, it’s a pretty good pouring shot, even if it is into a bag from the butcher.

Add the mint, mix it up and add the lamb. Squish it about until it is covered in the mixture. Tie a knot in the bag and pop it in the fridge for 24 hours.

Note the product placement. This was entirely by accident. I wouldn’t do it deliberately, would I?

When the marination is over, extract the lamb from the bag and place it on the barbecue at low temperature. A butterflied leg is not very thick, so it doesn’t need a lot of cooking.

Judges, just look at that lovely yoghurt coating and flavouring the lamb. Mmmm…

When the lamb is done, take it off the barbecue and get your friends and family to gather around while you take photos of the lamb. Photos like this…

I know that if any photo is going to sway a judging panel, it’s this one. I hope they are not vegetarian!

A good leg of lamb deserves a decent drop of wine. This is/was my last bottle of Charter Merlot Cabernet 2005. We bought it while down in the Dordogne region of France before the great 21st century depression hit home. Boy, it was great and went perfectly with the lamb.

I tried to provide a link to Charter but all I got in Google was luxury yacht charter and château hire.

I suppose that if I want to stand any chance of getting onto the shortlist, I had better show the lamb carved. I like it pink. If you don’t, look away now.

We are in the pink with this. The marinade added a beautiful layer of flavours to the lamb.

I bring things to a close with a plated shot. We had it during the first decent summer since records began. We dined outdoors and served it with a nice simple salad and pitta breads.

Is that a yoghurt pot in the background? Now who left that there?

No matter what the judges think, this is a winner and I encourage you to try it. I had fun doing it. You can too.