Freekah salad with sumac lamb

Doug Sherring

Salads are great for easy entertaining. This one made with the ancient grain freekah, is cooked partly like a risotto (inspiration from my big sister) and partly like a pilaf (inspiration from London chef Yotam Ottolenghi). It’s packed with flavour, and is great with lamb. I’ve only recently started cooking Freekah, a grain similar to buckwheat.

Salad

400 g	Freekah, rinsed (Main)
2	Onions, sliced thinly
½ tsp	Coriander seeds
½ tsp	Chilli flakes
¼ tsp	Ground cumin
5 stalks	Kale leaves, or cavolo nero, stalks removed and cut into thin strips
2 cups	Vegetable stock, or chicken stock
1 cup	Water
4 pieces	Preserved lemons, flesh removed and skin diced into small chunks
1 handful	Fresh mint, roughly chopped
1 bunch	Flat leaf (Italian) parsley, roughly chopped
¼ cup	Almonds, roughly chopped
½ cup	Feta, crumbled

Sumac lamb

2	Lamb tenderloin, about 150-200g per person (Main)
2 Tbsp	Olive oil
3 Tbsp	Sumac powder

Directions

Salad

1. Rinse and drain the freekah in cold water.
2. In a large frying pan, on low-medium heat, sauté the onion in a little oil. for about 10 minutes until it's soft, then add the freekah and the spices.
3. Stir with a wooden spoon to ensure the spices and onions cover the freekah, then add the kale and the stock.
4. Cover the pan and turn the heat to low, and allow to cook for about 15-20 minutes, topping up with a little water if it's drying out.
5. Taste and check the freekah is cooked, it will be soft to the bite.When you're ready to serve, stir through the lemon, mint, almonds, and garnish with feta on top, and more herbs. Best served warm.

Sumac lamb

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Rub the lamb in the oil and the sumac, salt, and pepper.
2. Heat a heavy based frying pan to high heat.
3. Sear the lamb on all sides for about 7-10 minutes. Finish in the hot oven for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover in tinfoil and rest for another 5 minutes.
4. Cut into thick slices and serve with the salad.