Moroccan Lamb

 Whilst the full heat of summer is fast approaching there is still the chance to use the slow cooker to make a delicious casserole.  Wednesday's are my Gigi baby sitting days and popping everything into a slow cooker means that once my little cherub is collected in the afternoon Baba and I will have a tasty dinner.

I was on the hunt for something a little different to the standard beef and red wine.  I came across this one, using diced lamb.  My slow cooker has a setting to sear the meat which is invaluable, saves another pan to wash and it also means those brown bits of flavour don't get lost. 

Ingredients

1kg diced lamb

Olive Oil

2 onions, halved and sliced

3 -5 cloves (depending on size) of garlic, crushed

1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated or finely sliced

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

! Tablespoon ground coriander

1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of saffron or turmeric for colour

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 large or 1 small skin of preserved lemon (I did not have any on hand)

600ml beef stock

Optional

80g pitted Kalamata olives

1 lemon, zested and a squeeze of juice

1 Tablespoon honey

chopped mint, coriander or parsley to garnish

Method

Preheat slow cooker on the "sear" setting. 

Place some olive oil in the slow cooker and brown the lamb in batches. 

You can do this in a frypan on the stove if your slow cooker doesn't have this option.

Remove with a slotted spoon and set by.

Add a little more oil and fry off onions. Cook for 8-10 minutes until softened. Stirring now and again.

Add garlic and ginger, cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add spices, preserved lemon (if using) and tomato paste.

Tip in lamb and juices and stock.

Season with salt and pepper.

Set slow cooker for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.

Once the meat is tender if you want to take to the next level add the honey, lemon and olives and continue to cook for about 20 minutes.

Serve garnished with chopped herbs and a side of Couscous

Mamma Marmalade

Find your Spice

Where is Cinnamon? Where is Cinnamon?  Here I am.  One of the easiest ways to speed up your time in the kitchen is streamlining your items to quickly find the ingredients you need.

Spices and herbs are often in a jumble even when you have them in a rack on a pantry door.  I simply write on the top of the lid (I use a liquid white-out pen - easy to scratch off if you change your mind )  so when I look down on the multiple bottles I can quickly locate the one I need.  I have one small shelf for herbs and one for spices.  Because I have a steady turnover of my most-used spices, I refill a number of bottles from large packets I purchase at either a continental deli or Indian spice shop, so they are always on hand to replace an empty jar. My spice bottles are re-used over and over.  

A few spices bottles are on a top rack on the pantry door -  I name these  spices on the base of the container so when I glance up I can easily see which is which.

I hope this gives you some ideas to make your cooking easy and enjoyable!  

Cheers!  Colleen