Dinner date - lamb with chickpeas, yoghurt and tray-roasted veg

When looking for dinner inspiration, I came across this recipe in Jamie Oliver's; jamie's dinners. I really rate jamie's dinners as a good book for inspiration, and every time I open it I find something new to try.

This lamb was a nice twist on a traditional roast lamb. It was quite unusual in that the butterflied lamb was cooked directly on the oven rack. The recipe said to cook the lamb for an hour (and even notes that it is to be served well cooked) but I think it would be nicer to have it a bit rarer, so next time I might cook it for 45 minutes. I roasted different veges to those suggested in the original recipe, but it really wouldn't matter what you use. I think the chickpeas make a great addition, and it's lovely to have the yoghurt based sauce to give moisture to the meal.

1 leg of lamb, butterflied and opened up like a book

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

a large bunch of fresh coriander
a large bunch of fresh mint
1 can of chickpeas, drained

salt & pepper

juice of 1/2 of a lemon

1 x 500ml natural yoghurt

veges of your choice - I used carrot, kumara, pumpkin and eggplant - pealed and chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

olive oil

Score the lamb on both sides. Using either a pestle and mortar or a food processor, grind or whizz up the coriander seeds with the garlic, fresh coriander, mint and half the chickpeas to form a paste. Season with salt and pepper then add the lemon juice and yoghurt. Place half of this flavoured yoghurt in a large plastic bag and add the lamb. Put the other half in the fridge for later. Tie the bag up to seal and turn it around to allow the yoghurt to coat all the lamb. Leave to marinate for at least an hour but up to 24 hours in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 200C. Place veges in a roasting tray with the remaining chickpeas, then sprinkle with cumin and drizzle with olive oil.

Remove the lamb from the marinade, the place the meat directly on the oven rack with the tray of veges on the shelf below. Cook for about 1 hour, tossing the veges halfway through. Serve the lamb well cooked with the veg and flavoured yoghurt on the side. I also served this with a salad of rocket, red pepper, orange and macadamia nuts. Delicious.