I did it! I made this one of Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals in 30 minutes. I cut out the drink but that should have taken all of 5 minutes so I believe I can pat myself on my back. Or Jamie can for having created at least one 30-minute meal. I do suspect that the wine I had at work might have loosened up my cooking muscles and made me relax because there were a lot of elements to this meal but none of them were complex. And once again it was delicious. The two sauces were a perfect accompaniment to the couscous and lamb. Jamie Oliver is a genius at flavours and I can recommend this as a meal which will be well received by all the family.
This is not a low Fodmap recipe.
- 2 racks of lamb (8 chops per rack)
- Nutmeg
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 lemon
- 200g couscous
- 1 fresh red chilli
- Parsley or mint
- 1 lemon
- 1 pack flatbreads (whichever you like)
- 250g plain yoghurt
- 1 heaped tsp harissa paste
- 200g humus
- ½ a lemon
- 8 small whole jarred red peppers
- 60g melting cheese (of your choice)
- Put lamb on greaseproof paper over a board and cut each rack in half. Score the surface area in a crisscross fashion. Dust or grate over a little nutmeg, the cumin, paprika and thyme. Massage flavours into the meat.
- Place in a hot pan with olive oil. Turn and colour the meat for about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a hot roasting tray, bones facing up and put on top shelf of the oven at 220°C/425°F.
- Cook 14 minutes for medium meat. Halfway through, turn the racks.
- Tip couscous into a large bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and add enough boiling water from the kettle to cover by 1cm. Season with a pinch of salt. Cover with a plate.
- De-seed and chop the red chilli. Finely chop most of the mint and parsley (reserving some for garnishing).
- After a few minutes, take the plate off and add chopped parsley, chilli, a few lugs of olive oil, salt and pepper. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon. Fluff with a fork.
- Place a little piece of cheese in each pepper.
- Drizzle olive oil into a pan and add peppers. Cook 1-2 minutes only.
- Put yoghurt into a bowl and swirl in the harissa. Drizzle over some olive oil and a few reserved parsley leaves.
- Spoon the humus into another bowl. Make a well in the middle and add extra olive oil, salt, pepper, a pinch of paprika and the juice from ½ a lemon.
- Lay on a board, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, dried thyme or oregano. Scrunch up and wet a piece of greaseproof paper under the tap and flatten out. Stack up the breads and wrap in the paper.
- Put onto the lowest shelf of the oven below the lamb.
kitchenriffs says
Congrats on cracking the 30 minute barrier! Truth be told, cooking times on so many recipes seem to be way off to me. How many times have you seen a recipe that says you can caramelize onions in 5 – 8 minutes? In which universe is this true?! Even if you cheat and use sugar, it still takes a good 15 minutes, and without sugar at least twice that long (but with far superior flavor). Anyway really good post – thanks.
admin says
I’m trying another tonight so let’s see how that goes. You are right that the timing on recipes can be way off. The Moroccan prawns I made the other day took me 30 minutes and the recipe had 49 minutes – not sure where they got that from since the only cooking was 2-3 minutes for the prawns.
Suzanne
Frank@Kraemer's Culinary Blog says
I totally agree with kitchenriffs. Most 30 min. recipes are for people who learned the recipe and organized themselves accordingly prior cooking. I love lamb chops. They look fantastic and delicious.
admin says
That’s what I think too. If I didn’t have to keep returning to the recipe to see what to do next, I would shave quite some time off it. The lamb chops were perfect. The 14 minutes cooking time with resting for 5 minutes created pale pink centres that were melt in your mouth tender.
Suzanne
cookingrookie says
I love this lamb – it looks gorgeous! and yummy 🙂
admin says
The whole meal was delicious with the lamb the star.
Suzanne
Eha says
Sugar, lady! Jamie has everything precut by others, every utensil at reach, every used dish whisked away – and I would not [sorry, Jamie/Coy!] like to put the clock on when that, admittedly fun, cooking is being done!!! The show is great, the results more than repeatable . . . but let us not become neurotic if we can’t copy without staff 🙂 ! And if Jamie would read this, he would chortle with laughter!!!
admin says
Well, then I will just have to get some staff. How fantastic to have all dirty dishes whisked away. I would love that. I do have a husband and son – we’ll see what can be arranged.
Suzanne
Inka says
i love Jamie’s meals 🙂
admin says
So do I, Inka. Thanks for visiting.
Suzanne
John says
Thanks for posting this recipe, I can now try it tonight. Thank you.
Suzanne says
You will love it, John. It was so good.
anna says
I dont care if it doesnt take 30 minutes – they are great recipes that are easy to do and so delicious!
Suzanne says
That’s exactly right. He is a great chef and I love his recipes.
Gel says
Hi, I just watched the episode that featured this meal, but I missed the part where he said the type of peppers used. Were these whole roasted red bell (sweet) peppers? Looks sooo good.
Suzanne Perazzini says
Check the recipe on this page. It will answer your question.
Kristen says
Hi! I normally don’t comment on anything old I find, but, after seeing this episode on TV today and searching in vain for the recipes, I stumbled across your post from 2012. I just wanted to let you know that your post is still being read 11 years later and it made me VERY happy! I really like your nice, concise recipes and comments. So THANK YOU!
Suzanne Perazzini says
Thank you for your comment, Kristen. It’s amazing how much time has passed since I started this website. Glad to hear this recipe has been useful for you after all this time.