Firstly, an apology! I’ve recently realised that email subscribers get a full copy of my posts as they are published. The problem is, time being tight as it often is, I usually publish first and make any corrections later so as it doesn’t go out too late at night. This means some rather ‘rushed’ copy goes out there initially. I’m not a very accurate typist, so I’ll bear this in mind in future *slaps wrist*.

So anyway – food. The sun’s out and the cover is off the barbecue. Happy days!

Instinctively then, I started thinking of Mediterranean type dishes of late and I was also inspired by a local sandwich shop/takeaway.

I pass this place most days coming back from work and stopped there the other afternoon as I was in the area. I got chatting to the owner who’s keen to make his menu as healthy as possible, being based around wholewheat wraps, brown rice and salad. It tasted good too and whilst I’m sure there are plenty of these places in the trendier parts of London, it is a bit unique round my way – I hope he does well.

And so having some minced lamb in the fridge, I made these kebabs with a brown rice Greek style salad and a quick Tzatziki.

The smell was great on the grill outside….

Makes 4 kebabs:

• 500g minced lamb, no too lean or it’ll be dry
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, or 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 tbsp chopped mint
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• Salt about a pinch per person (so – 4)

Just a quick tip, but I tend to mix everything, going easy on the ingredients, and fry a small bit first to taste.

For the Greek style brown rice (serves 4)

• 200g brown rice
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced. Red onion would have been better.
• 1/2 a red pepper, diced
• A handful of chopped coriander
• 100g of goats cheese (Feta works well)
• Juice of the other 1/2 of lemon
• Green and/or black olives.
• 4 good tomatoes, quartered.
• Extra virgin olive oil

For the Tzatsiki – I used this recipe at the BBC. Nice.

Cook the brown rice first, it takes a little while longer than white rice.

Meanwhile, mix the kebab ingredients. By hand works better. Roll into sausage shapes and thread onto some wooden skewers. If using a charcoal BBQ, probably best to soak the skewers first.

Cook until done and keep warm – they don’t take long with the lid on. 10 minutes or so.

Finally, tip the cooked rice into a bowl and mix in all the ingredient for the salad. Serve it up with the kebabs on top, a big side of Tzatsiki and a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil. Summer on a plate!