Mediterranean Braised Lamb and Couscous

The first time I had couscous was in a Mediterranean restaurant. They served it with loads of stewed vegetables and it quickly became one of my favourite meals. Unfortunately, after patronising the restaurant twice, the restaurant closed down. Just my luck.

I've been wanting to buy some couscous and make a dish of it but I never got round to it. A few days ago while shopping, I saw this box of couscous on a shelf just taunting me. Well, needless to say, I decided it was time to try to make a meal with couscous.

I came across this lovely recipe by Jamie Oliver. I was looking for a sauce of purely vegetables but couldn't find one that suits my taste. But if there should be meat, I think lamb is the way to go.

Ingredients:
3/4 small onion ; peeled and sliced
Light olive oil ; or vegetable oil
375 grams Lamb shoulder ; or leg or lamb; diced into small pieces
3/4 clove Garlic ; peeled and crushed
3/4 red pepper ; diced
3/4 teaspoon tomato paste
300 grams tomato base sauce ; OR
300 grams plum tomato
300 mililiters water
1 1/2 sprig Fresh basil ; shredded
salt
~~ -- Couscous -- ~~
94 grams couscous
113 grams vegetable stock

Instructions:
Heat a large saucepan and gently fry the onion in a little olive oil for 10 minutes. Add the diced lamb, the garlic, red pepper and tomato puree. Stir in the tomato base sauce, or tinned tomatoes, water and basil. Add salt to taste cover with a lid or a couple of tight layers of foil, then simmer on a low heat for around 1½ hours or transfer into a deep baking tin cover with foil and finish cooking it in the oven at 150 C/300 F/gas 2 for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender.

Tip the dry couscous into a serving tin. Then pour the boiling vegetable stock on to the couscous - it should just cover it. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and then fluff up with a fork just before serving.

Serve the lamb with couscous and a mixed leaf salad.

Harira

I had lamb soup last weekend. My parents went to a bazaar and there was a wonderful variety of food. My dad decided to buy back a middle eastern dish for me to try. There was the rice with wonderful flavour from spices, accompanied by soup which tasted really familiar to me. Eventually, I realised the soup was boiled with lamb (I don't have lamb very often) but funnily enough, the meat in the soup was chicken (you can see why I was confused).

With lamb on my mind, I searched for a recipe which might be similar to the one I tried. This recipe from All Recipes was fantastic. It was not as oily as the one I had, and had a cleaner taste to it. I'm not familiar with Middle Eastern fare but according to the submitter of the dish, Harira is a traditional Moroccan dish.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Butter
453 grams Lamb meat
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
3/4 cup Celery ; chopped
1 Onion ; chopped
1 red onion ; chopped
1/2 cup Fresh cilantro ; chopped
822 grams Diced tomatoes
Salt ; to taste
7 cups water
3/4 cup green lentils
425 grams Chick peas ; drained
2 Eggs ; beaten
Cilantro ; for garnish

Instructions:
(1) Season lamb with a bit of salt.

(2) Place butter in large soup pot and melt over low heat. Place lamb, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne, butter, celery, onion and cilantro into the soup pot and stir frequently for 5 minutes. Pour tomatoes (reserve juice) into the mixture and salt to taste. Let simmer for 15 minutes.

(3) Pour tomato juice, 7 cups water, and the lentils into the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer. Let soup simmer, covered, for 2 hours.

(4) About 10 minutes before serving, turn the heat to medium-high, place chickpeas into the soup, let cook about 10 minutes. Stir in eggs, let eggs cook 1 minute.

Spring Lamb Shepherd's Pie

Another comfort food! My dad bought some lamb the other day and what's better than a hearty shepherd's pie. I came across Jamie Oliver's recipe and it was terrific. Great flavour and even though I missed out a step (dredging the lamb in flour), the pie still turned out great in my own opinion.

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients

1kg boneless shoulder of lamb
2 x 15ml spoons flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 glugs of olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
50g pancetta, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary
400g can plum tomatoes, chopped
250ml lamb or vegetable stock
1kg Desirée potatoes
200ml milk
2 knobs of butter
A small handful of fresh rosemary

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F, gas mark 5.
2) Trim any large bits of fat off the lamb, then cut the meat into chunks and put through small batches into the food processor until minced roughly. Place the mince in a bowl, and then add the flour and seasoning and toss until evenly coated.
3) Heat a large pan, and when it’s nice and hot, add the olive oil and lamb mince, and fry until browned all over. Add the onion, celery, carrot, pancetta and garlic to the pan, and throw in the sprig of rosemary and tomatoes. Pour in the stock and stir well so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
4) Leave in the same pan or transfer to an ovenproof dish, cover and bake in the oven for an hour.
5) Meanwhile, peel the spuds, boil them in salted water until cooked through, then drain well. Heat the milk gently, then pour over the potatoes. Add a knob of butter and mash well until smooth and creamy.
6) Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan. When it starts to bubble, throw in the handful of rosemary and fry until crisp. Drain and add the rosemary to the mashed potatoes with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
7) Take the lamb out of the oven, spoon over the mash, then turn up the temperature to 200°C, 400°F, gas mark 6 and bake for about 20 minutes, or until bubbling and crispy and brown on top.