Born out of pure desire to be more involved in his wife’s pregnancy (what a man!), former MasterChef contestant Aaron Harvie has authored a cookbook ‘A House Husband’s Guide – Cooking for your pregnant partner. His fabulous recipes use delicious alternatives for verboten foods while dialing-up the taste and nutritional benefits. Aaron’s roast lamb souvlaki is sure to be a winner with the whole family and there’s still time to drop a few hints before Mother’s Day!
Serves 6
Cooking time: 2 hours 50 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Pita bread (if you are going to use store-bought make sure you heat them in a pan for a few seconds per side before serving)
1 sachet instant yeast powder
1 teaspoon sugar
410g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Roast Lamb
1.4kg half lamb leg
3 garlic cloves, quartered
3 sprigs rosemary, roughly torn
1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon sea salt
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
¼ iceberg lettuce
6 tablespoons Tzatziki
METHOD
To make the pita bread, place 1 sachet of instant yeast powder in a mixing bowl and add 250 ml warm water. Mix together and cover for 10 minutes. If it bubbles, the yeast is active if not, discard and start again.
Add the sugar, flour, salt and olive oil to the bowl and combine until you have a rough dough.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and turn out the dough, kneading for 8–10 minutes. The dough should be elastic and have a sheen to it.
Coat a mixing bowl in olive oil and add the dough, rubbing the exterior in olive oil before covering with a tea towel and allowing to rise for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Place the lamb in a roasting tray and cut 12 deep incisions across the surface, stuffing the holes with a piece of garlic and rosemary. Drizzle the lamb with olive oil and lemon juice and season with sea salt. Place lamb in the oven and roast for 1 hour.
Remove the tray from the oven and using tongs, carefully turn the lamb over, returning to the oven for a further 45 minutes. Remove the lamb from oven and rest for 15 minutes.
To finish the pita bread, the dough should have finished rising so punch it back down into a ball and turn it out on a lightly floured work surface. Cut it into six even pieces. Press each piece of dough into a roundish disc and one at a time roll out into desired shape, placing the pin across one side and quarter turning after several rolls. Place each finished piece beneath a sheet of baking paper and continue until dough is all rolled out.
Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat until it is very hot. Brush one side of the bread with olive oil a place oil side down in the pan. While the first side is cooking brush the other side with olive oil and flip when mottled brown and blackened. Repeat this process with all of the flat breads and wrap in foil to keep nice and warm.
Cut the lamb into thin slices, removing the bone, then using two forks pull apart the meat into shreds, covering with the pan juices.
Lay pita bread on a plate, slather with tzatziki and add a generous amount of lamb and top with onions. Add the tomato and lettuce, then roll up and serve.
A House Husbands’ Guide New Holland Publishers RRP $35.00 available from all good bookstores or online www.newhollandpublishers.com
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