Greek Feast

Greek Inspired Lamb Shoulder

Ingredients: 

• 1 lamb shoulder
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp sweet (or normal) paprika 
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (or one average sized lemon, juiced)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsps salt
• 1-1 1/2 cups water

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius.
2. Mix together in a little bowl the garlic, paprika, oregano, thyme, lemon juice, olive oil and salt to form a paste.
3. Place the lamb in a deep baking tray (deep enough to be deeper than the lamb itself and to hold water).
4. Poke some holes in the lamb with a knife, so the flavour infuses through more easily. Around 10 little pokes will be perfect! 
5. Using the back of a spoon, cover the lamb in the spice paste mixture.
6. Add in the water, just enough to ensure it reaches up to roughly an inch of the lamb  itself.
7. Place the tray in the oven for 20 minutes, and then remove from the oven.
8. Place a sheet of baking paper over the lamb, and then cover again with a longer sheet of alfoil. This is so the lamb isn't touching the alfoil. 
9. Place it all back in the oven for another 3 1/2-4 hours, or until the meat can easily be pulled apart with a fork.
10. Remove the alfoil and baking paper, and continue to cook for another 20-25 minutes or until the topping has become slightly crispy. 
11. Remove from the oven. Cover until you are ready to serve it all. 
12. Enjoy! 

Gut Friendly Rice Tabouli 

Ingredients:

• 2 handfuls of curly parsley (if you have it, make a portion of this mint!)
• 2 green onions/spring onions
• 200g cherry tomatoes 
• 1 1/2 cups cooked and cooled white Jasmine rice
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice (or juice of one lemon)
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. If you can, cook rice in advance by a few hours, to allow it to cool and enhance the beneficial resistant starch.
2. Finely chop the parsley (or even whizz it in a blender!) until it is extra fine. 
3. Finely dice the tomatoes and spring onion 
4. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl together. Taste the final Tabouli and ensure it is to your liking. 

Cleansing Tzatziki

Ingredients: 

• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 small cucumber
• 1/4-1/2 cup (loosely packed) dill and/or parsley
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut yogurt or yogurt of choice
• 5 tbsp lemon juice

Method: 

1. Grate the cucumber, and then press through a strainer to drain out some liquid and place it into a bowl to eventually add all of the other ingredients into.
   
2. Blend together the garlic, herbs and coconut yogurt. You can also finely chop the garlic and herbs, however blending just speeds things up!
3. Combine all of the ingredients together in a bowl. You can prepare this in advance as you wish. 

Serve all recipes together once the lamb is fresh out of the oven. And enjoy!