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Morito Mechoui meets Shelburne farms fennel.

I made this dish whilst we were up in Vermont recently, I have blogged about both recipes before but this combination of dishes worked particularly well despite one being from Spain via East London and the other being from the middle east via the middle of Vermont.
I think the fatty spicy lamb works well with the cool clean yoghurt taste and the aniseed-y fennel. The cumin in both dishes nicely brings them together

Mechoui lamb
For the marinade
2 cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste with ½ tsp salt
¼ onion, finely grated
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika, hot or sweet
2 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice

To cook the lamb
2 tbsp cumin seeds, freshly ground
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp hot paprika
1 tsp Maldon salt
1 lemon, cut into quarters

Method
Mix the garlic, onion, spices, oil and lemon juice for the marinade together thoroughly in a bowl, then add the lamb chops and turn to coat them really well. Cover and leave for an hour at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.
When you are ready to cook the lamb, mix the cumin, paprikas and salt together in a bowl. Sprinkle the lamb liberally with half the spice mixture.
Place the chops under a hot grill, on a barbecue or smoking-hot griddle pan and cook for 5-8 minutes on either side for pink, turning once or twice.
Serve immediately, with the remaining cumin mixture and the lemon on the side.
Shelburne farms Fennel with chickpeas and tomatoes

 Ingredients

 1 large fennel or 2 small ones
1 large tin of chickpeas
20 cherry tomatoes
small handful chopped flat leaf parsley

 dressing

 250ml plain yoghurt
1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tbs lemon juice
2tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper

 Method

 First make the yoghurt dressing.

 Combine all the ingredients and whisk together. Set to one side

 Now for the salad.

 Remove hard outer layer of the fennel, cut in half vertically, remove hard core and then either cut very finely across or preferably shave finely on a mandoline.

 Drain and rinse the chickpeas.

 Cut the tomatoes into quarters or halves depending on their size. Add the parsley
mix all the salad ingredients together then fold in the dressing until the salad is well covered.

 Now stir in some chopped flat leaf parsley
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