Leftover lamb

We had the tail end of a shoulder of lamb from the weekend to use up tonight. Could have curried it but there wasn't much meat so decided to make a pilaf. Very simple - fry a chopped onion, add spices, stir in rice, add twice the volume of stock and leave to simmer until the liquid is absorbed (about 15 minutes). Fry up lamb with more spices, add peas, herbs, whatever - something green. Fork through rice and tip on serving dish, top with lamb, a squeeze of lemon, more herbs and serve with plain yoghurt, chutney or sweet chilli sauce

The reason why these kind of leftover dishes are often so unappealing is that people tend to do one of two things. Either put the meat in with the rice while it's cooking in the mistaken belief that that's what's needed to cook it through thoroughly (It simply makes it unappetisingly squelchy) or fail to put in anything brightly coloured which creates a drab brown slop. I can't pretend my pilau was the most stylish dish ever - it was hurled together at huge speed - but it was pretty tasty. (The picture is of a platter for 2 btw in case you think we've got outsize appetites!)