Moroccan Lamb Stew (Recipe)

 

 

Chicken, hamburger, fish...hamburger, chicken, fish...fish, chicken, hamburger. I can only take so much repetition before I feel really unsatisfied. So as I'm staring at the meat refrigerator at my local co-op, trying to dredge up some excitement anticipating the same-old meals I've been eating for the last year, I decide instead to flirt with the cute grocery guy who was stocking the hot dogs.

"I'm really bored eating the same old thing day after day. Do you have any turkey?"

"Nope, turkeys are butchered only once a year just before the holidays."

"I'm at a loss for what to eat."

"What about lamb?"

As I recall, lamb has a very distinctive, rich flavor. An acquired taste. Of course, I've never really known how to prepare it. I spied the ground lamb and the lamb stew meat on the shelf as I listen to this tall, dark-eyed, wavy-haired, edible Greek god talk about mouth-watering stews made with  seductive spices. He was describing food of the gods. I was drooling, or rather swooning, as I imagined him eating it.

I get into a checkout line with my bag of lamb stew meat and lucky for me one of the deli cooks is running the register. She gave me some ideas for Moroccan Lamb Stew. At home, I checked for a recipe online. Most had tomatoes which are not on my Paleo/Hashimoto's diet, but I found a recipe online without tomatoes and then I experimented. It amazes me with all the dietary restrictions I have, I can still manage to find gourmet recipes that comply.


Ingredients:



3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 pounds lamb stew meat
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/3 cups water

3 large carrots, chopped
4 cups butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1 large blood orange or any orange
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon honey or two soaked dates (optional)



Preparation:

Mix salt, pepper, cinnamon and allspice in a medium bowl. Add lamb and toss to coat with spice mixture. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add lamb to pot and saute until brown on all sides, about 4 minutes per batch. Return all lamb to pot. Add onion, garlic and ginger to pot and saute 5 minutes. Add water and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lamb is almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

In the meantime, chop carrots and squash. Grate peel from blood oranges and reserve. Cut all remaining peel and white pith from oranges and discard. Coarsely chop orange meat. Add carrots, squash, oranges and grated peel to lamb mix. Cover and simmer until lamb is very tender, about 20 minutes longer. Stir in parsley and honey/dates. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I used regular oranges because I had already shopped by the time I got home to see the recipe and didn't have blood oranges. I left out the honey.

The dish isn't "hot" spicy just tantalizingly spicy. Moroccan spicy. Such a treat. The carrots and the squash soak up the spices and balance the richness of the meat (lamb is very greasy). Heavenly.

Yum.