Lamb and pita salad

Nick Reed

We are the kind of cooks who love to create recipes on the go, using whatever is at hand and in season, and coming up with new and inventive ways to use the fruit and vegetables from the garden is one of our favourite spare-time activities. During summer, we like to make sure our dishes are fresh, light and as quick and easy as possible. Produce this good doesn't need to be messed with for it to sing.

This is something we created when we had planned to have lamb pita pockets but unexpected whanau arrived for lunch so we had to feed a few more mouths. We toasted the garlic pita pockets and cut them into small pieces to act as croutons for a fresh green salad. We also cut the barbecued lamb into bite-sized peices. We dressed it with our yoghurt and mint dressing and patted ourselves on the back.

Ingredients

2	Pita pockets (Main)
2	Lamb steaks (Main)
½ tsp	Paprika
½ tsp	Cumin
½ cup	Yoghurt
½	Garlic cloves, minced
4	Mint leaves, thinly sliced
1	Lemon, zest of
1 packet	Rocket
¼	Red onions, finely sliced

Directions

1. Cut the pita pocket in to wedges. Brush with olive oil and grill in the oven until crisp. Remove from oven and season with salt.
2. Coat the lamb steaks in the paprika and cumin and season well. Heat a pan on a high heat and sear for 3 minutes on each side or until cooked pink in the middle.
3. Mix the yoghurt, garlic, mint and lemon zest and season to taste.
4. Cut the pita and lamb into bite-sized pieces and mix together with the rocket and onion. Drizzle over the yoghurt dressing.