Leftover Roast Lamb Pilaf with Pine Nuts

This leftover roast lamb pilaf is a great way to use up leftovers and you could easily substitute the lamb for any other cooked meat!

We cooked Will’s parents Sunday lunch a few weeks ago. Which was also the occasion that we realised there’s something slightly funky going on with our oven and it doesn’t get as hot as it should. Which is unfortunate when you’re trying to cook a fancy leg of lamb that you got from the fancy butchers and actually eat lunch at lunchtime. Still, it turned out pretty delicious once we finally sat down to eat and we made loads of excellent side dishes including potatoes cooked in the juices from the lamb and cauliflower cheese with the perfect level of mushiness in the cauliflower which made it feel like you were eating cheesy clouds.

Now I think we’re all in agreement here that almost as good as eating the roast dinner itself is eating the leftovers. When you fork out for a massive joint of meat, in the back of your mind you’re thinking about all the excellent things you’ll be able to make with all the meat that’s left behind when you’ve finished stuffing your face with carby meaty roast dinner goodness.

So then we started thinking about what we could do with all that lamb. Since lamb goes amazingly well with spices and I haven’t used one of my favourite ever spices, aleppo pepper, in a while we decided to go with this leftover roast lamb pilaf. We added in some cinnamon and cumin as well and the whole thing turned into a big tasty bowl of yum. If you’ve got any leftover roast lamb (or this would definitely work with any other meat) then please please make this leftover roast lamb pilaf!

5 from 4 votes

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Leftover Roast Lamb Pilaf with Pine Nuts

This leftover roast lamb pilaf is a great way to use up leftovers and you could easily substitute the lamb for any other cooked meat!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Turkish

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 359 kcal

Author Amy

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 medium Onion chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic finely chopped
• 1 Cinnamon Stick broken in half
• 30 g Pine Nuts
• 1 tbsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Aleppo Pepper
• 300 g Rice
• 750 ml Water
• 400-500 g Cooked Lamb cut into chunks
• A pinch of Saffron Threads steeped in 50ml of warm water
• 2 Carrots peeled and chopped into battons
• Fresh Coriander/Cilantro to serve
• Greek Yoghurt to serve

Instructions

1. Place the oil and onion in a large saucepan then place over a low heat and allow the onions to slowly sweat for 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and pine nuts plus a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. After another 5 minutes add the cinnamon, cumin and aleppo pepper. Cook until fragrant.

2. Tip in the uncooked rice and stir to combine with all the spices. Raise the heat to medium then add the water and saffron. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, adding the carrots and lamb 10 minutes before the end of cooking. Serve with coriander (cilantro), yoghurt and an extra sprinkling of aleppo pepper.

WONDERING WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEFTOVER INGREDIENTS YOU’VE GOT FROM MAKING THIS LEFTOVER ROAST LAMB PILAF?

If you’re anything like me then you’re always looking for ways to save money and avoid food waste so I want to make sure you’ve get plenty of ideas on how to use up any ingredients that are leftover from my recipes!

Veggie Quinoa Bowls with Chickpeas and Pine Nuts

Harissa Falafel with Roasted Vegetables and Cucumber Yoghurt