Baked lamb with chickpeas and spinach

Serves: 5
Time to make: 55 mins
( Hands-on time: 15 mins )

Total cost: $ 19.25 / $ 3.85 per serve

(at time of publication)

Ingredients
Nutrition Info.(per serve)

500g lamb shoulder, boneless, finely diced (see tip)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 red onions, cut in wedges
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup dried chickpeagarbanzoXsgarbanzosX, soaked overnight and drained or 400g can chickpeagarbanzoXsgarbanzosX, drained, rinsed
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 thick pieces lemon zest (use peeler)
300g frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, excess water removed
11/2 cups plain couscous
3 cups boiling water

Nutrition Info

Kilojoules 2060kJ
Calories 492cal
Protein 35g
Total fat 16g
Saturated fat 5g
Carbohydrates 50g
Sugars 12g
Dietary fibre 8g
Sodium 160mg
Calcium 150mg
Iron 5mg

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 175°C. Heat a deep ovenproof pan over a medium heat. Gently cook lamb until browned on all sides. Add oil and onions. Cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes until soft. Add cumin, chickpeas, tomatoes, lemon juice, lemon zest and spinach. Stir to combine and bring to the boil. Cover and place pan in oven for 40 minutes.

2 Place couscous in a medium-sized bowl. Cover with boiling water and the remaining oil.
Stir then cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 5 minutes.

3 Fluff up couscous with fork and divide among four serving bowls. Ladle baked lamb over couscous and scatter with fresh chopped parsley if preferred.

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Variations

Make it gluten free: Use brown rice instead of couscous and check cumin is gluten free.

HFG tip

Use a slow-cooking cut of lamb. Remove any visible fat and cut in equal size cubes. Lamb leg or lamb shoulder is ideal. Ask the butcher for the specific cut you would like. Lamb shanks would also be good in this recipe — allow 1 per person.
Half a cup dried chickpeas (100g) is equivalent to a 400g can drained chickpeas (240g). To prepare chickpeas, place in a bowl and cover with plenty of water. Leave overnight to soak. Cook chickpeas in plenty of salted water for 40-60 minutes on a low simmer OR add to a casserole as above.

Author:Tracey Sunderland

Photographer: Carolyn Robertson

First published: Jun 2012