Ingredients
| MARINADE | |
| 2 tablespoons capers, very finely chopped | |
| 6 (about 40g) sweet piquante peppers, very finely chopped (optional; I used Peppadew) | |
| 1 clove garlic, crushed | |
| juice of 1 lemon | |
| 2 tablespoons olive oil | |
| CAPSICUM & HALOUMI SKEWERS | |
| 8 (about 200g) little sweetie/vine sweet peppers | |
| 100g haloumi | |
| LAMB & LEMON LEAF SKEWERS | |
| 400-500g lamb, fillet, shoulder or leg | |
| 16 small lemon leaves | |
| EGGPLANT & ARTICHOKE SALAD | |
| 1 large eggplant | |
| 340g jar plain or marinated artichokes, drained and chopped | |
| ½ cup pitted olives, roughly chopped | |
| ½ cup flat-leafed parsley, chopped | |
| 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil | |
| juice of 1 lemon | |
| 2 tablespoons pinenuts, toasted | |
| 1 handful torn basil or Greek basil |
Most cuts of lamb are suitable here as it is cut into very small pieces and cooked quickly: fillet and backstrap are super- tender and lean but pricier; I like leg or shoulder for taste and value. If you are using lamb shoulder, get a little extra weight because you have to trim away chewy connective tissue and excess fat. If you don’t have small lemon leaves you can add the zest of one lemon to the caper marinade
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Instructions
| 1. | Put the capers, piquante peppers, garlic and lemon juice in a bowl, season with salt and pepper then stir in the olive oil. |
| 2. | Bring a pot of water to the boil. |
| 3. | Cut the little sweetie peppers in half (if you have any very small ones, just cut off the green stem end), add to the water and boil for 5 minutes until starting to soften. Drain and cool. |
| 4. | Cut the haloumi into pieces (you need one piece for each half pepper). |
| 5. | Put the haloumi in a dish and add half the caper marinade and stir well. |
| 6. | Stuff each piece of pepper with a piece of haloumi and some marinade, then thread onto skewers and set aside. |
| 7. | Cut the lamb into small cubes and thread onto skewers with the lemon leaves. |
| 8. | Put into a shallow dish and coat with half the caper marinade. Set aside. |
| 9. | Place the eggplant directly over the flame of a gas burner or barbecue, or under a preheated grill, turning regularly until completely blackened and soft. |
| 10. | Place in a large bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap and leave to sweat for 10 minutes. |
| 11. | Peel off all the blackened skin and discard. |
| 12. | Cut the stalk off the eggplant and chop the flesh very finely. |
| 13. | Place in a bowl and mix in the artichokes, olives, parsley, extra virgin olive oil and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. |
| 14. | Scatter with pinenuts and basil leaves or extra parsley to serve. |
| 15. | Heat a hibachi, barbecue or other grill to very hot and cook the skewers for 4-6 minutes or to your liking and serve with the eggplant and artichoke salad. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith/ Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Lascelles