Crispy pomegranate-glazed lamb breast with yoghurt

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Selin Kiazim knows a thing or two about cooking lamb, and this wonderful recipe is everything you want from a lamb breast dish – rich, comforting and satisfying. The lamb breast is braised, pressed, then seared in a pan, and served with tangy yoghurt and a lamb sauce spiked with pomegranate molasses, fennel and coriander seeds.

First published in 2019

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Lamb breast

Pomegranate sauce

To serve

  • 4 tbsp of yoghurt, Turkish or Greek
  • 4 sprigs of mint, leaves picked and finely shredded
  • 4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely shredded

Method

1
Preheat your oven to 160ºC fan or 180ºC conventional
2
Place the lamb breast, sliced onion and bay leaf into a large roasting tray or casserole dish. Add enough water to cover the lamb by around 2cm. Cover with foil or a lid and braise in the oven for around 3 hours. The lamb is ready when you can pull the bones away without any resistance
3
Remove the lamb from the stock, and place the stock in the fridge to cool
4
Let the lamb cool enough so you can handle it, but don’t allow it to cool down completely as you will find it more difficult to remove all the bones and cartilage. Remove as much meat as possible, discarding the bones and cartilage. Place the meat into a square roasting tin, press down and chill in the fridge with a weight on top until the fat is set, preferably overnight. You want the meat to be pressed so you can cut it into cubes once it has set
5
Preheat your oven to 170ºC fan or 190ºC conventional
6
Place all the spices for the pomegranate sauce onto a small roasting tray and toast them in the middle of the oven for approximately 6 minutes
7
Get your cooled stock out of the fridge. Remove and discard all of the fat, which will have risen to the top of your stock. Place the remaining liquid into a saucepan and add the spices, pomegranate molasses, cider vinegar and sugar. Allow this to simmer, stirring occasionally, until it has a consistency similar to single cream. Strain off the spices and reserve
8
Remove your lamb breast from the fridge and slice into 3cm cubes. Place the diced lamb into a medium hot dry pan and fry until crispy all over, turning occasionally and seasoning with sea salt as you go along. Be aware that a lot of fat will render out and the pan may spit at you so be careful as you are turning the lamb over. The pieces of lamb will break up a little in the pan but that’s fine – you want some bits that are super crispy and some bits that are soft in the middle! This can take anywhere between 8-12 minutes
9
Drain the lamb in a colander and discard the excess fat
10
To serve, divide up the yoghurt into individual bowls or into one big bowl for the table. Place the lamb on top, pour over as much sauce as you like and sprinkle over the herbs
  • 4 tbsp of yoghurt, Turkish or Greek
  • 4 sprigs of mint, leaves picked and finely shredded
  • 4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely shredded
First published in 2019

At Oklava, Selin Kiazim expertly navigates Turkey's diverse culinary landscape, drawing on her own Turkish Cypriot heritage to create delicious dishes that are bursting with flavour.

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