Moroccan Lamb

The Sweeper

Had some cold brown rice and a butterflied half leg of lamb in the fridge last night, and have a very well stocked store cupboard.

After an inspired moment, dinner ended up being Moroccan baked stuffed leg of lamb with couscous. Stuffing was brown rice, with spices (turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, ground coriander and salt and pepper), apricots (the tinned halves, chopped into strips), sultanas and chopped blanched almonds, using some of the fruit juice from the tinned apricot to moisten it up, along with the juice of half a lemon.

The couscous was done with chicken stock, and stirred into a half an onion, sweated off in a knob of butter with some garlic, chick peas, sultanas and pumpkin seeds. It was one of the easiest dishes I have ever made and easily one of the tastiest things I've drummed up in ages.

Anyone else got any good Moroccan recipes? I have a buzz on now for meat with fruit and spices.

CJhaughey

We must have had the same brainwave!
I cooked Lamb Tagine last night with Lamb shanks.
I get my butcher to chop the 6 shanks up into pieces the same thickness as chops.
I soaked 1/2c of raisins in 1/2c of sherry
Brown the lamb in oil add 2 large onions finely diced and 2 tsps of powdered coriander seed 4 cloves garlic and a thumb sized knob of ginger chopped.
sweat for a while
Take 2 cups chicken stock and add some saffron and allow to infuse for a while, then add the cinnamon, raisins and saffron/stock to the pot with the lamb and onions in it bring to the boil and then simmer until the shanks are tender usually 1.5-2 hrs
Just befor serving remove the shanks and take half the sauce and puree in a processor then mix back into the chunky sauce.
When cooked sprinkle toasted almonds and parsley over and serve on rice or couscous.

The Sweeper

mmmmm lamb shanks - I do love them, but I always find them 'fiddly'. It's hard to find a butcher around here so I end up relying on the guys who work the supermarket counters. Which means I end up slow-cooking the shanks whole and then stripping the meat off the bone. It's a good season for lamb here at the moment, so it's cheap and tasty.

When you say 'like chops', you mean you get the butcher to section each shank into something like a bone-in round?

CJhaughey

Yes that is exactly what I get just little bone in cutlets of shank.
Of course a side benefit of the cutting process is the butcher also throws the bony end away so you don't pay for that.

liam1204

bought some lamb in a butchers last sat and made a nice curry. had the last of it tonight watchin the footy and it was better than nice. first time cooking lamb too.

The Hill Billy

On the North African theme, this is a Tunisian-style Chicken Stew (not even going to pretend that I did it in a Tagine) that I used to do. Can be done a day in advance & would be all the better for it too.

Ingredients
Enough Chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, etc.) - skin on or off - for say 6 hungry people
6 carrots in large chunks
1 medium turnip in large chunks
3 sticks of celery in large chunks
3 medium onions quartered
3 large red peppers quartered
6 garlic cloves roughly chopped
chicken stock (enough to almost cover veg in pot)
3 bay leaves
1 tsbp tomato puree
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons

Marinade
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp harissa paste
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt

Method
Put a couple of slashes in each chicken piece
Combine thoroughly all marinade ingredients in a large bowl
Place chicken pieces in bowl & work marinade in thoroughly with hands
Refrigerate for 1 hour

Place large pot on medium heat & add olive oil
Add veg & garlic in order above at 2-3 minute intervals to sweat down
Add stock, bay leaves & tomato puree & bring to simmer

Bring frying pan to medium-high heat & fry chicken pieces for 3-4 minutes turning once
(Do this in batches)
Place fried chicken pieces on top of veg in pot
Pour remaining marinade & lemon juice into frying pan
Heat for 3-4 mins then pour over contents of pot
(If the lemons have been washed I'd pop them down into the veg too & remove before serving)

Cover pot & allow to simmer for 1.5 hours

Serve with cous cous.

This would also work well with shanks. Speaking of which - they have gone to a ridiculous price these days! Was only a while ago that you'd pick them up for €1 each - now I'm paying €3+.