Main Lunch

Mark Diacono’s Green Seasoning Lamb Rundown

This lamb dish is marinated with a green chilli sauce, which infuses it with bright heat before cooking. The lamb fat slowly released as it cooks ‘runs down’ the meat and carries the herb and spice flavours into the vegetables. It really is quite something. Rundown is mostly about the thyme and the mix of vegetables, so do vary the meat – it is often made with fish – or just include more vegetables.

20 minutes, plus 2 hours marinating prep, 1 hour 30 minutes cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

800g diced lamb or goat

1 tsp ground turmeric

1–2 tsp hot curry powder

1 x 400ml tin fullfat coconut milk

A mix of floury potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash etc., peeled and cut into large chunks, to make about 800g

200g chard or robust spinach

1 lime, quartered

Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the green seasoning

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Juice of ½ lime

1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced

Small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

Small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked

1 fresh green chilli

1 tsp salt

Method

Make the green seasoning. Whizz all the ingredients in a blender to make a not-quite-smooth paste, then transfer to a jar. As well as using it in this recipe, leftovers make a great marinade!

In a large bowl, mix the meat with the turmeric, curry powder and green seasoning, cover and leave in the fridge overnight (or if time is against you, at least 2 hours).

Add the contents of the bowl to a large pan, add 100ml (3½fl oz) water and pour over the coconut milk. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about an hour until just tender, adding a touch more water if it dries out, as you need enough volume to cook the potatoes later.

Season, adding salt, pepper or more curry powder to taste. Add the vegetable mix and the chard and cook for 20–30 minutes until tender and the liquid has largely cooked away. Add a squeeze of lime juice to taste.