The Film:
The Dish:
The Reason:
The most lethal sniper in US history, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is brought up to believe; ‘There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs’. It’s the job of sheepdogs like him to protect the rest of us from the wolves. In this dish, the hunks of marinated lamb appear equally vulnerable. Skewered on rosemary branches, these kebabs borrow flavours of the classic marksman’s dish ‘cacciatore’ (translating from Italian as ‘hunter’s stew’) before sending them on a Middle Eastern tour. Pieces of lamb fillet are still held shoulder to shoulder with their traditional compatriots; tomatoes and olives, yet instead of being stewed for hours, they get a trial by fire over the grill. If you swaddle the burnished kebabs in pita bread and serve with sumac sprinkled hummous you’ll find it’s fine, fast food for hungry folk. The rosemary stems may warp slightly after the heat, but never fear- the end result is an upstanding dish that plays it straight down the middle.
The Way:
Hunter’s Lamb Kebabs with Hummous and Flatbreads
Makes 6 kebabs, serves 2-3
Ingredients
Marinade
1/2 cup red wine
2 anchovies, finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely diced
1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 pinch red chilli flakes
Skewers
400 g lamb backstrap/ fillet, cut into pieces the size of a matchbox. You should end up with around 24 pieces of lamb.
12 cherry tomatoes
6 pitted green olives
6 stems of rosemary, leaves shorn
To serve
2 or 3 pita breads
3/4 cup of hummous
Sumac and ground chilli to taste
Method
1) An hour before you plan on eating, mix together the ingredients in the marinade.
2) Add the lamb pieces to the marinade and allow to steep for half an hour to an hour.
3) To construct the kebabs layer one piece of lamb, one cherry tomato, then another piece of lamb, an olive, then another piece lamb, a cherry tomato and then one last piece of lamb.
4) Preheat your barbecue of grill to medium high. Drizzle the kebabs in olive oil and grill for three to four minutes each side until cooked to medium.
5) Allow the lamb to rest for 3 minutes while you warm your flatbreads and sprinkle your hummous with sumac and chilli. Smear the hummous on your flatbread and pull the lamb, olives and soft tomatoes off the skewers. Wrap and eat.
