Spiced lamb with cous cous and tzatziki

The perfect week night dinner, this lamb with cous cous and tzatziki is full of flavour, but only takes about 15 minutes to get onto the table. At our place Tuesday is a massive day, starting with band rehearsal at 7:30 am, school, afternoon music lessons, evening choir practice, a long day of lectures for the university students, and an always busy day at work for me. We heave a collective sigh of relief when we get to the end of it! I am loving cooking with lamb sirloin at the moment. It’s quite expensive, but there is no waste at all, and because it is lean, it’s a healthy, delicious and low fat choice of meat. 100 – 120 g per person is enough, unless you have growing, athletic teens in your household – we’ve all been conditioned to think that we need more meat than that for dinner, but we really don’t. You could also serve a big, crispy green salad with this meal. A glass of pinot would be a perfect accompanying wine, along with some Stan Getz for music.

Serves 4

400-500 g lamb sirloin (this is probably 2 pieces)
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tesapoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
olive oil
Tzatziki (use this recipe or good quality store bought) and herby cous cous, to serve

Before you start the lamb, prepare the cous cous and tzatziki and set to one side. Mix the spices, salt and pepper together in a small bowl, until well combined. Lay the lamb sirloin onto a piece of silicon paper and sprinkle the spices on both sides, patting onto the meat with your fingers, and making sure the whole surface is coated. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan until quite hot. Pan fry the lamb for 3 minutes per side, for medium, or to your liking. Take off the heat and rest for 3 minutes. Slice the lamb into 1/2 cm strips and then serve on top of the cous cous, with tzatziki on the side.