Lamb and Easter go together and a lamb-based meal is a classic one for an Easter Sunday get together. Orzo pasta is also a particular favourite of mine. Orzo is a style of pasta, common in Greek cookery that looks like over-sized grains of rice. So, when I saw this recipe, I had to cook it. Note that this is a slow-cooked lamb dish and cooking time is over 4 hours, but that’s all hands-off waiting time.
Prep time 30 minutes/Cook time 250 minutes/Serves 6
Ingredients:
1.8kg-2kg (4-4 ½ lbs) lamb shoulder (on the bone)
1½ tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic granules
For the yoghurt orzo
250g (9 oz) orzo pasta
½ x 30g (1 oz) pack flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
½ x 20g (2/3 oz) pack dill, finely chopped
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g (1 3/4 oz) pine nuts, toasted
50g (1 ¾ oz) currants
2 tbsp olive oil
250g (1 cup) full-fat Greek yoghurt (this needs to be proper, thick, Greek yoghurt, not the Greek-style type)
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 160°C (140°C fan/320F/gas mark 3) and line a roasting tin with baking paper. Put the lamb in the tin, drizzle with the oil and rub all over to coat.
Mix the oregano, ground coriander, paprika and garlic granules together, then sprinkle the mixture all over the lamb, top and underside, rubbing it in and seasoning generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Transfer to your pre-heated oven and roast for 4 hours.
About 20 minutes before the lamb is due to finish cooking, prepare the yogurt orzo. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook the orzo to the packet instructions. Combine the fresh herbs, dried mint, cinnamon, pine nuts and currants into a heatproof bowl along with a generous seasoning of salt and pepper and 1½ tbsp of the olive oil. Once the orzo is cooked, drain into a sieve and set aside.
Using the same pan over a medium heat, combine the yoghurt, 100ml (2/5 cup) of boiling water from the kettle and the remaining 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Stirring almost constantly for a couple of minutes, heat the yogurt up gently, so as not to curdle it. Once the yogurt is hot, take the pan off the heat. Add the orzo to the bowl along with the fresh herb mixture and then pour over the yogurt sauce and mix everything thoroughly until evenly combined and creamy. If you’d like your sauce to be a little looser, just add a little more boiling water to slacken it, stir well again and serve.
Remove the lamb from the oven, shred a little using two forks and serve with the yogurt orzo.
