Moroccan Lamb Stew with Israeli Couscous

There's getting to be a bit of a back-log of recipes in my browser's tabs. I don't want to close them because I need to blog how we made something, but I put it off until I forget what I did.

In this case, I decided the recipe was too good to let it meet that fate. Also, it was kind of made up as recipes go, so it went really well. This recipe makes about enough for two hungry people with limited amounts of self-control.

Ingredients

• 1 lb lamb stew meat (probably lamb shoulder? Cut to 1.5" cubes) - beef or similar would work as well.
• 3 smallish carrots with their greens (or you can use some parsley instead if you don't have the carrot greens? Or just leave that out); Carrots peeled and sliced, greens chopped and set aside.
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1.5 tsp ras-el-hanout (look it up - it's a moroccan spice blend. We made our own a long time ago so I can't say exactly what we put in it, but it's stuff like cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and clove - sort of sweet-and-savory)
• 1 c beef broth
• 1/4 c dry white wine (we actually used vermouth)
• 1 c Israeli couscous
• about 1/4 c dried apricots, quartered
• about 1/4 c raisins
• olive oil, salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large sautee pan or dutch oven, heat oil until quite hot and then add the lamb and sear it a bit. After about 5 minutes of this (when you get sick of it?) add the onion and carrots. Cook for another 5 minutes. At this point, stuff will probably be sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add the thyme, garlic, beef stock, vermouth, a couple extra tbsp of olive oil, and the ras-el-hanout. Bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Reduce to a simmer and cover, then put in the oven for 90 minutes.

When that's done, remove the pot from the oven. Using a slotted spoon, remove the lamb, carrots, and as many onions as you care about and set aside. You should have quite a bit of beef/lamb broth left over in the pan. Add the couscous, apricots, raisins, and carrot greens and probably a little water. Proceed to cook the couscous kind of like you would risotto - add water when it's looking dry until it's pretty close to cooked through. When it's very close, re-add the lamb/carrot mixture and mix. Cover and leave on the warm burner for about 10 minutes to let the couscous finish cooking through. Salt to taste.

Thoughts: For serious, my only regret is that we had just one pound of lamb so there are no leftovers.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Lamb Meatball Curry

It was an experiment, anyway.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 egg
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• water
• about 1/4c (?) cream
• salt to taste

Mix the meat, garlic, pepper, garam masala, and egg into a meatball mixture, then form into 1.5" diameter meatballs. Pop them in a 375 degree oven on a cookie sheet covered in foil for about 20-30 minutes, or until they're about done. I think at the end we broiled 'em to get a little char.

Meanwhile, cook the onion in a pan with a little neutral oil. When that's done, toss in the remaining spices (cumin, ginger, turmeric) and cook for a little bit. Then add the tomatoes and the tomato paste. Cook until thickened.

When the meatballs are done, add them to the onion / tomato / spices mixture. Add just enough water so that nothing burns and cook for another 10-20 minutes. When you're getting to the end, let most of the water evaporate off and replace it with some heavy cream. Serve over rice.

Thoughts: The meatballs were really the highlight of this dish. I'm not sure the sauce did too much for it. So I think we're going to have to tweak this idea a little bit. I think in the future I would use crushed tomatoes, or else possibly blend the whole sauce before adding the meatballs. Also might use some madras curry powder? Not sure about that. There was something missing here.

Disaster Index: 4/10

Artichoke Lamb Stew

This takes a little prep, but I think it's worth it. This was a bit unusual as dishes go, but I think the result was awesome.

Ingredients

• 3 large artichokes (prep instructions below)
• 1 lb ground lamb
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped (rounds)
• about 1/2 lb cannellini beans (or similar), soaked
• 1.5 tbsp flour
• 2tbsp lemon juice
• oil / fat of your choice (we used leftover bacon fat, but olive oil would work fine)
• rosemary, thyme, basil (we kind of eye-balled it - maybe 1 tsp / .5 tsp / 1 tsp, respectively)

Okay, the artichokes. Pull off the outer layer of roughed-up leaves. Wash the artichokes. Cut off the top inch or so of the artichoke to expose the leaves. As you do all of this, every time you remove a leaf or anything, rub the cut / damaged area with lemon juice. With a paring knife, peel the outer portion of the stem (but leave it attached. Or, if it came detached at some point, just peel it) and, again, coat in lemon juice.

Pop the artichokes in a steamer for 25-45 minutes, until the outer leaves come off pretty easily. Remove and let cool. Then begin removing the leaves. You can eat the ends of the leaves as you go or just save them for later. We saved all the leaves for an up-coming stock we're going to make. Anyway, when you get all the bigger leaves off (the top 5 layers or so) you can usually pull out all the center layers in one go. Then you're left with the heart (and the choke). Scrape out the choke using a spoon. Now chop the heart and the stems into 8 pieces (or so, I don't know - bite sized). ARTICHOKES DONE. If you didn't understand a step, go google it or something.

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, add the lamb and some oil/fat. Break up the lamb a LITTLE, but not into tiny bits - it's nice to have larger pieces of lamb kicking around. Brown the lamb pretty well. Then add the onion and carrot. Cook until the onion is getting soft. Then add the flour and continue to cook for another minute. Finally, add everything else. Fill with water JUST to cover. Bring to a boil (scraping up the bottom of the pot as you go), then reduce to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for about an hour. Season to taste with salt and additional lemon juice.

Thoughts: The game-y-ness of the lamb was wonderfully balanced by the acidity of the lemon. It was a really nice, hearty winter soup. The artichokes had great flavor the FIRST day, but after sitting in the fridge the flavor diffused a bit so it wasn't as distinct the second day. Since the hearts were already cooked, next time I might not boil them for an hour with everything else, but instead pop them in with about 5 minutes left in the cooking process. If I had stew meat available (rather than ground) I think that would be better, but this was still really good.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Shepherd's Pie

This is really easy if you have an oven-safe saute pan.

Ingredients

• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 lb ground lamb (or whatever)
• 1 tsp fresh or dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1c chicken stock
• 1c peas
• 2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks of roughly the same size
• 1/2c or so milk
• 2 tbsp butter

Set the potatoes boiling in a pot. In a separate saute pan, add the carrot, celery, onion, and meat. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender and the meat browned. Then add the herbs, tomato paste, and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the peas. Toward the end of the cooking, preheat the oven to 375. When the potatoes are done, drain the water and add the milk and butter and mash. Salt to taste. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat and vegetables in the saute pan and spread to create a layer of mashed potatoes. Use the tines of a fork to texture the surface (optional, as far as I can tell). Throw the whole thing in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until lightly golden or you can't stand it anymore (what happened for us). Serve.

Thoughts: This was really easy, if a little time consuming. I think the lamb was really good. If I weren't using lamb, I would go with a mixture of pork and beef, probably. I can't think of much I would change about this, although I might consider upping the rosemary or adding some thyme or something.

Disaster Index: 1/10