Lamb Stew

This delicious lamb stew is great in winter. I make mine with barley and some toasted rustic bread. Its fantastic!

Ingredients
1 lbs lamb, cut into chunks or cooked meat from lamb stock.
Coriander seeds
Fennel Seeds
Roasted Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 of 1 Star anise

Cloves
1/4 stick of cinnamon, or a few slivers of a cinnamon stick
Onions
Garlic
Celery or Fennel
Carrots
1 or 2 bay leaves
Lamb Stock

Take the lamb bones from the lamb stock. If you just made the stock, the bones will be hot, so use heat treated gloves. With a pairing knife, remove the meat from the bone. Since you had just made lamb stock, the meat should come off very easily. Separate the meat and put it aside.

Heat a heavy iron skillet until hot. Reduce heat and add coriander seeds and fennel seeds. Roast the seeds for a few minutes until their aroma is released. Stir the seeds constantly so they do not burn.
Remove from heat and place in a small bowl. Add the roasted Sichuan peppercorns to the mix.

Add oil to a large stock pot. Add the seeds mixture you just roasted and stir fry for 2 minutes.

















If you have raw lamb chunks, salt and pepper then, then add them to the stock pot and stir fry for a few minutes until they are no longer pink.
















At this point you can either make the rest of the dish in a stock pot or in a slow-cooker. Either way,
add the onions, garlic, celery, fennel, carrots and bay leaves. If you are using a stock pot, stir fry the vegetables for a few minutes before transferring them to the crockpot.

Add lamb stock, enough to cover all of the meat and vegetables. If you are using cooked lamb from the lamb stock, add it at this time.










Cook in the stock pot for 1 hour on low heat or 3 hours in the crockpot on low heat.


Season with salt and pepper and serve with rustic bread or barley!

Harira Soup

I got this recipe from David Tanis A Platter of Figs

Its absolutely fantastic and quite hardy. In some ways, it reminds me of a South Indian dish, Sambar, which is also a lentil based soup (albeit this has the addition of Lamb) It also reminds me of a Mongolian Lamb Soup I have made previously. According to Wikipedia, Harira is a Moroccan dish, usually eaten during Ramadan.

This soup tastes best if you make it a day in advance and let the flavors develop fully before devouring!

Ingredients
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 lbs shoulder of lamb, boneless (I made it with the bone and it was delicious)
2 large onions, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon crumbled saffron
1 teaspoon each ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, black pepper
2 teaspoons powdered red hot chile
1/2 teaspoon Harrisa powder
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup dried fava beans, picked over and washed
1 cup red lentil, picked over and rinsed
13 cups water
Salt
6 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro plus slivered cilantro for garnish
1/3 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoon butter
Lemon wedges

1. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot. Brown the lamb lightly, then add chopped onions, stir and brown them. Add all of the spices and garlic and let them sizzle for a few minutes. Add the fava beans, lentils and 12 cups water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Add 2 teaspoons salt and simmer for 1.5 hours, stiring occasionally.

2. Put tomatoes, parsley and cilantro into a blender with a litte salt and puree. Add the puree to the soup and simmer for another 1/2 hour.

3. Now, puree half of the soup and return it to the pot.

4. Add 1 cup of water to the flour in a separate bowl. Whisk it together until smooth. Add it to the soup. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

5. Add butter and stir until melted. The texture should be quite smooth, neigher thick nor thin.

6. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with cilantro. Squeeze some lemon juice ontop. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper.

This goes really well with some freshly baked bread!