This tasty easy lamb salad is a perfect weeknight meal. Made with roasted vegetables, spicy couscous and tender harissa-marinated lamb, it can be prepared fully or partly in advance and is equally tasty the next day.
First lets talk about marinades. A marinade can be complex with lots of herbs and spices or it can be as simple as opening a jar. This marinade is almost the later. Don't even think of making this salad if you haven't marinated your lamb.
It may be tempting to take a short cut but I promise you the marinade really ups the flavour in the lamb and this one is so easy it won't take more than a minute or two the day before. Or you could make it in the morning before going out to work.
Just a little bit of forward planning is all this salad needs. Of course, you could roast the vegetables in advance too and even make the couscous the day before, although I have to admit I do prefer the vegetables to be freshly roasted.
You could say I've taken a few short cuts with this salad. I could have made up a marinade myself rather than using harissa and lemon juice, but harissa and lemon juice makes an incredible marinade for lamb so why not?
I could also have used my own blend of spices in the ras el hanout couscous but again, the ras el hanout spice blend saves so much time and works perfectly in this lamb salad. For midweek meals you have to make life easy for yourself!
As you can see, I used lots of yoghurt (I love it but you could use less!) and although it isn't mixed into the salad, it is the equivalent of a dressing.
I used fresh mint in the yoghurt, although coriander would also have been lovely. You could even stir some chopped fresh mint through the couscous or sprinkle some more over the top. I actually had some sprigs of mint in the fridge that had dried out so I just crumbled them up between my fingers and sprinkled the dried leaves over the lamb salad.
We thought this made a really tasty filling salad and you could even cook the lamb on the barbecue in summer.
You might also be interested in my Tasty Easy Lamb Stir Fry, Mint and Lamb Meatballs or Lamb and Spinach Curry.
Recipe for Harissa-Marinated Lamb Salad
Harrissa Marinated Lamb Salad
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp harissa
- 1 lemon juiced
- 4 lamb steaks
- 1 aubergine cut in half
- 2 courgettes cut in half
- 2 sweet potatoes quartered
- 2 tbsp rape seed oil
- 300 g uncooked couscous
- 1 tbsp ras el hanout
- 400 ml stock I used chicken stock
- 500 ml natural yoghurt
- 5 tbsp chopped fresh mint
- 1 tsp dried mint optional
Instructions
- Rub the harissa and lemon juice into the lamb steaks and put them in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours.
- Put the vegetables on a baking tray and drizzle with the oil
- Roast in the oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Cut into smaller pieces after they have cooked.
- Put the couscous in a bowl and stir in the ras el hanout. Pour in the hot stock and cover for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork.
- Mix the fresh mint into the yoghurt.
- Brush a griddle pan lightly with oil. Cook the lamb steaks for about 3 minutes on each side. Cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly.
- Assemble the salad by putting a couple of spoonfuls of couscous on each plate, followed by some vegetables and lamb. Put a few dollops of yoghurt on each plate. Crumble some of the dry mint leaves in your hands and sprinkle over the plates.
Notes
Nutrition
Places I'm sharing this Harissa-Marinated Lamb Salad
Keep in Touch
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Alethea
I really enjoyed reading about this lamb salad! It's such a great idea to marinate the lamb in harissa before cooking it - It sounds so tasty and a light meal too.
Corina Blum
I completely agree! Harissa is one of my favourite spices and using it on lamb is perfect.
hijackedbytwins
I love lamb and this dish looks and sounds so tasty! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Corina
You're welcome! Sometimes you can't beat a simple tasty lamb dish!
Eb Gargano
This looks delicious! Such fab flavours!! Clearly great minds think alike - I made Harissa marinated lamb for my #lovelambchallenge recipe too! (Though mine had a totally different salad to go with it). Harissa is so fabulous with lamb, isn't it? (Actually I think harissa is pretty fabulous with everything!!) It certainly makes a great easy peasy marinade. Best of luck with the competition!! 🙂 Eb x
Corina
Your salad sounds amazing too! I am late catching up with comments but I am definitely wanting to eat a lamb salad again now! Good luck with the competition too x
Jessica Cantoni
I absolutely love the idea of lamb in a salad, which I don't think I've ever had in one before! I would definitely make this as a mid-week meal, it sounds so yummy. I love ras el hanout so much, and harrisa... *drools* x
Corina
I'm so pleased you like it - the harissa on the lamb is amazing and so simple to prepare!
Mandy Mazliah
You're so right that there is no time for making our own spice blends for midweek suppers! This sounds delicious. Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare
Corina
Thanks Mandy! A few years ago I tried to do everything from scratch but with children I'm discovering that sometimes there just isn't time!
Kristy from Southern In Law
This looks so so delicious! I love harissa - especially with lamb!
Corina
Thank you! I love lamb with spices and harissa and lemon juice is a really easy way to marinate the lamb.
Hannah @CleanEatingVeggieGirl
I honestly don't think I have ever tried lamb steaks, but now you have me wanting to!
Corina
So pleased to have tempted you! I don't very often cook lamb but love it when I do.
Farrah
This sounds amazing! I haven't had lamb in forever!
Corina
Thank you! I love lamb and it goes so well with spices, although it is a meat I don't eat very regularly either.