Easy Spice Lamb Backstrap Dinner

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

The vast majority of dinners cooked by home cooks like me day in, day out, aren’t Instagrammable. They’re nutritious, simple, practical, and hopefully quick. But not the stuff of reels and pins. A palmful-sized amount of grilled or pan-fried meat with steamed vegetables isn’t sexy, but it’s what we should be eating for dinner most of the time.

So, why are we here? Because my younger self needs to hear the next bit. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look sexy. What’s sexy is independence. What matters most is that cooking is done, and the food is nutritious. Because you don’t want to be relying on someone else to do that for you for the rest of your life.

Also, dear younger self, as illustrated in the poems on this page, there’s joy in the simple things, and in getting stuff done. No matter how mundane, it’s still the stuff of life. And each thing has its place, even un-Instagrammable photos 😂 Those concepts alone elevate an easy spice lamb backstrap dinner to a thing of beauty, and a celebration of the everyday. Call it mindfulness, if that works.

I used a more expensive cut of meat (because of my chewy, slimy phobia) but it doesn’t have to be that way. A less expensive cut of lamb or beef also works. It’s just marinating, then knowing how long to cook it. All cooking is timing.

Oh, Sweet Content

Oh, sweet content, that turns the labourer’s sweat
To tears of joy, and shines the roughest face;
How often have I sought you high and low,
And found you still in some lone quiet place;

Here, in my room, when full of happy dreams,
With no life heard beyond that merry sound
Of moths that on my lighted ceiling kiss
Their shadows as they dance and dance around;

Or in a garden, on a summer’s night,
When I have seen the dark and solemn air
Blink with the blind bats’ wings, and heaven’s bright face
Twitch with the stars that shine in thousands there.

-W.h. Davies, Poem in the Public Domain

The Builders

Easy Spice Lamb Backstrap Dinner

An everyday-er.

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Prep Time:3 hours hrs

Cook Time:30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2-3 lamb backstraps (approx 800 grams), depending on size and thickness
• 1 cup couscous (can skip the couscous for gluten free or instead use polenta, see packet for directions)
• 3 corn cobs, cut into chunks
• 2 bunches asparagus
• 2 bunches broccolini
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (gluten free if required)
• 2 tsp cumin (alternately a spice mix to your taste eg Moroccan)
• 1 tbsp dried herbs eg basil
• olive oil
• butter
• salt, pepper

Instructions

• Cut the backstraps into thirds. Put a splash of olive oil into a bowl with the soy sauce. Add backstraps, ensure they're well covered. Sprinkle spices and herbs over all sides. Marinade covered in a bowl in fridge for at least a few hours.
• Preheat oven to 220℃/428℉.
• Place prepared asparagus, broccolini and corn in a single layer on baking sheet on baking tray. Splash with olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, turning half way.
• Put cous cous in a bowl, with a small knob of butter, and have a sheet of foil handy.
• After the vegetables have been baking for 10 minutes, heat frying pan to medium hot and add the backstraps. Increase heat if start to broil, then reduce heat. For medium, cook for a solid 4 minutes on one side, before turning. Thicker cuts may require 5 minutes a side.
• Boil the kettle, and add one cup of boiling water to the cous cous in the bowl. Cover tightly with foil and leave it for five minutes.
• When the lamb has cooked, remove from heat and allow to rest for five minutes, covered with foil. If at any doubt at all about the lamb, I like to slice it a little while still in the pan to see how it's cooking. But four minutes per side for medium is usually the go-to.
• Fluff the cous cous with a fork. Serve lamb (sliced or as is) with cous cous and roasted vegetables.