What to do on a boring Saturday night ( I feel so old), with lamb in the freezer that should really be used soon before freezer burn sets in... god I am old if this is what I'm worrying about on a Saturday night!!! Ah well. I'm ok with that.
I've recently been exploring some recipes more in the moroccan/african area of the world, having moved on from curries (still love them, still trying new ones out, but I feel like I need to broaden my scope a bit.) Enter a moroccan stew using lamb necks from Jamie Oliver. Love lamb, love the ease of cooking with lamb neck, love Jamie Oliver. Gotta love a man that loves to cook and tries to change the way the world eats and thinks about healthy food. Plus he has a great accent. Girls love guys with accents. Common knowledge. Not my fault.
I had to go off the grid for this recipe and improvise a bit as I didn't have some of the ingredients listed on hand- but I have to admit that sometimes this makes cooking a lot more fun and interesting. Yes, sometimes there are disasters, but more often than not there are pleasant (and tasty) surprises. Plus it leads to more confidence and creativity in the kitchen. Cooking shouldn't just be about functionality, it should be a way of expressing yourself, a source of relaxation and stress relief, a sharing of ideas and a sharing of delicious meals. I think that's why I enjoy it so much...that, and I love to eat. And drink wine, preferably red but I won't judge. Food and wine go hand in hand in my world -I swear that it helps with the creativity side of things ;-)
Click on the link below for Jamie Oliver's version or try my version, or create your own version and post it. Pass it on!
Happy cooking...cheers to that!
Moroccan Lamb Stew with Couscous
adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe which you can find here
Serves 4
Difficulty level- Pretty easy
Ingredients for the stew
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsps ground coriander
1 tbsp chili powder
small bunch of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
extra virgin olive oil
4 neck fillets of lamb
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1 squash, peeled and cut into cubes (you can stick with 4 sweet potatoes if you prefer, I just had a squash on hand that I needed to use up, and I only had 1 sweet potato left- make do with what you have!)
5 shallots, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 - 28 oz can of whole tomatoes
1 can of lentils, rinsed (or 1-2 cups of cooked lentils...love the lentils)
1 stick of cinnamon
2 bay leaves
chopped fresh coriander/cilantro (optional)
4 tbsps fat-free natural yoghurt (optional)
Ingredients for the couscous
2 cups of water
1 cup of couscous
a splash of wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Trim the excess fat from the lamb (which I forgot to do but will try to remember for the next time...maybe). Mix the cumin, coriander, chili powder, rosemary, ginger, olive oil, salt and pepper into a small bowl. Rub half of the mixture onto the lamb. Place the diced sweet potato/squash in bowl with the shallots and garlic, and mix with the remaining rub of herbs and spices.
Brown the meat on both sides in a heated pan with some olive oil. Remove the lamb and add the sweet potato mixture to the pan. Saute until the shallots soften, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes to the pan, place the meat on top, add the lentils, add 2 wineglasses of water (I love how Jamie Oliver measures things!), cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves. Braise in the preheated oven for about 1 hour.
To prepare the couscous, boil 2 cups of water. Remove from heat, add 1 cup of couscous, and let sit covered for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, a splash of white wine vinegar, a splash of olive oil, and fluff with fork.
Add chopped fresh coriander and stir into the stew before serving (I didn't have any hand but I really wish I did, adds nice colour and I love cilantro a wee bit). To plate, add a good scoop of couscous, then top with the sweet potato mixture and lamb. Add a dollop of yoghurt to finish it off if you wish.
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