River Cottage A to Z wins again

A quick, delicious and healthy meal for two

We were in need of a quick (and healthy) evening meal recently and at breakfast time that day I had a look in the River Cottage A to Z to see if anything took my fancy.  We had some lamb steaks in the fridge and I spotted an interesting recipe called Lamb, Labneh and Spinach Salad.

The mystery ingredient, Labneh, can be bought from a good deli (according to Hugh F-W) but there is also a recipe to make it.  It is a fresh soft cheese that is made very simply with plain yogurt, some salt and a piece of muslin.  As I also had the yogurt and salt I decided to give this a go, mixing the yogurt with a little sea salt then wrapping it in the muslin, putting this in a sieve over a bowl and leaving it in the fridge while I went to work. Apparently the longer you leave it the better (within the life of the use by date on the yogurt of course).  Liquid from the yogurt drains out and you are left with a delicious, creamy soft cheese. And I mean delicious!

The recipe was really easy to do.  First I seared the seasoned lamb steaks in a hot frying pan with a little olive oil, turning to cook on both sides. Then once they had cooked for about 7 mins I took the pan off the heat and left the lamb to rest for a few minutes. It was browned on the outside and pink on the inside, if you like it more well done just cook for a little longer. I made a dressing of orange juice, toasted cumin seeds, a grated garlic clove, a drizzle of honey and some extra virgin olive oil, mixed this all together then poured over the resting lamb.

To serve this we had a plate of baby spinach, covered by spoonfuls of labneh and thinly sliced lamb on top, with the juices from the dressing poured over the top and toasted sesame seeds scattered over.

It was simple to cook and really tasty (and I guess it's very healthy too). I hope you enjoy it.

The ingredients are:

2 lamb steaks
1 tbsp olive oil
150g labneh (yogurt + salt)
100g baby spinach
2 tsp sesame seeds
Juice of an orange
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp honey
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil