Writer, food stylist, and photographer, Georgia East, shares her Slow Roasted Lamb Rib with Heerboontjie Hummus paired with Classic Collection Pinotage recipe.
An unctuously fatty cut, lamb rib is best kept for slow cooking. When flavoured with herbs, garlic and lemon it makes for a delicious Mediterranean-inspired dish. Pairing the lamb with a hummus made using heirloom heerboontjies gives this recipe a West Coast twist. The heerboontjie is a heritage food grown in the Sandveld area of Redelinghuys. A small white bean, heerbone are bought dried and soaked overnight. They make a wonderfully creamy alternative to tinned chickpeas when puréed with tahini, cumin, lemon juice and olive oil.
The lamb rib is best served on warm flatbread with lashings of the heerbone hummus and fresh tomato.
Slow-roasted Mediterranean Lamb Rib
Redolent of the fynbos they feed on, Sandveld lamb is tender, unctuously fatty and yields delicious results when cooked slowly.
Prep time: 20 mins/Cook time: 2 hours/Serves: 4-6
You will need:
• 1kg lamb rib
• 2 large lemons
• 3 sprigs mint, finely chopped
• 3 sprigs oregano, finely chopped
• 4-6 sprigs of fresh rosemary, left whole
• 6-7 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 5-10ml finely grated bokkom
• Coarse ground sea salt and black pepper
• 25-50ml olive oil
• 150-250ml dry white wine (I used Lutzville Sauvignon Blanc)
For the heerboontjie hummus:
• 300g dried heerbone, soaked overnight
• 1 tablespoon of tahini paste
• 15ml dried cumin
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• Juice of half a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
• Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Dried cumin seeds, to garnish
To serve:
• Cherry tomatoes, halved
• Red onion, thinly sliced
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh mint
• 8-10 readymade flatbreads or pita breads
Drain the heerbone and place in a large pot. Cover with water (don’t add any salt) and bring to the boil. Cook the beans for half an hour and drain. Allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, add the tahini, cumin, garlic, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt. Use an immersion blender to purée the mixture until smooth. Blend in a little ice water if the hummus is too thick. Spoon the hummus into a dish, drizzle a little olive oil over the top and scatter over a tablespoon of cumin seeds. Cover and set aside until ready to serve.
For the lamb rib marinade, zest and juice the lemons and combine with the olive oil, chopped oregano and mint, garlic and grated bokkom. Season the marinade with black pepper and a little salt. Tuck the rosemary sprigs in and around the lamb rib to infuse flavour and if possible, leave the meat to marinate for a few hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Making sure the lamb rib is skin side up in the roasting dish, pour over the white wine and cover the dish with foil. Slow-braise the ribs – 220°C for the first 20 minutes, followed by 150°C for a further hour to hour and a half. When ready, the ribs should be falling off the bone and the cooking liquid syrupy. Use a fork to shred the lamb into the liquid, discarding any bones.
Fry the flatbreads on a lightly oiled griddle pan. Serve the shredded lamb on the flatbreads with a dollop of heerboontjie hummus, salads and a few glasses of Lutzville Pinotage.
The Wine:
The Lutzville Vineyards Classic Collection range showcases single grape varieties, allowing you to discover the unique West Coast flavour that makes these wines so special. The Classic Collection Pinotage is a ‘proudly South African’ cultivar showing aromas of ripe cherry, raspberries and plum with vanilla and spicy undertones. This juicy and well-balanced wine rewards with an elegant mouthfeel and soft tannins.
Food Pairing
Slow-cooked casseroles, grilled pork chops, pasta, pizza, robust cheese or a good old braai.
Wine Style
Dry, medium-bodied, red
Grapes
100% Pinotage
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ABOUT EAST AFTER NOON
I’m Georgia East – a writer, food stylist, and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa. Although I studied to be a wordsmith and am a self-confessed Shakespeare groupie, I have a love for food so strong that by rights I might have been better off with the haute cuisine crowd. However, since I can do simple far better than complicated, I began my blog – East After Noon – in order to better document the creations I make in my kitchen.
Achievements for the East After Noon blog so far have included being named as one of House & Leisure Online’s Ten Foodies to Follow, Food & Home Entertaining’s 7 South African Foodie Accounts to Follow and Culture Trip’s 10 South African Food Bloggers You Should Follow. As of 2019, I’m the published author of my very first cookbook – West Coast Wander – that details the food and the people of the Cape West Coast.
Visit her website: http://www.eastafternoon.com or follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastafternoon
