moroccan lamb - cafe gandolfi style

This looks complicated because of the number of ingredients but it really isn't. We had this as our 'snowed in' meal with some of Andy's excellent bread. Chunky meaty stew and bread to soak up the juices - perfect for a cold snowy evening. The flavours are not tongue bitingly spicy - they are more subtle than that and are very satisfying.

ingredients

[this serves 4]

500g diced lamb
2 sliced red onions
2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
50g root ginger - finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 tsps ground coriander
6 tsps smoked paprika
6 tsps all spice
30g chopped dried apricots
30g chopped dried dates
1 aubergine
1 courgette
1 red pepper
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
15g chopped coriander
5-10g chopped mint
5-10g chopped flat leaf parsely
handful of toasted psitachios
handful of toasted pine nuts
tin of cooked chick peas



[Gandolfi's recipe adds 3 tsps nutmeg - I hate nutmeg so have left it out. They also use zahtar which I didn't have so I used all spice]

Take a big pot and fry the onions in oil until they are all softly cooked and almost like a paste.

Mix lamb in a bowl seasoned with salt and pepper and a glug of oil. Heat a frying pan and when it is hot add the lamb in batches to brown. Don't cram it all in at once - it is difficult to turn the meat and it will steam instead of brown.


To the onion pot add the garlic, ginger, and spices. Stir, add oil if needed, then add the veggies. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the lamb and cover with water. Simmer for 60 minutes.


After the 60 minutes is done, add the chick pease and fruit and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered. When the meat is all tender and lovely, stir through the chopped herbs and serve in hearty portions in big bowls. Sprinkle the toasted nuts over the top.

This was good the first night but the second night was even better. I would suggest making this the day before you want to eat it - means you can prepare in advance if it is for folk coming round and also helps the flavours. If doing this would make it up to the point you had the herbs and would add these when you reheat to serve.