Arabian Night

With the wind chill falling below zero, the snowdrifts covering freshly shoveled snow, and our car doors freezing and reopening on the highway (yes, that happened), Christina and I needed a vacation. Somewhere warm and far, far away from the Windy City. That obviously wasn’t an option (Money? Time? We have neither.), so we decided to cook something exotic instead!

Christina had gone on vacation with her family to Morocco a few months ago, and I was eager to take a stab at one of the country’s signature recipes: a lamb tangine. This dish is named after the special pot used during cooking. A tangine is typically made out of heavy clay for slow-cooked stews.


We may not have had a tangine, but we had most of the ingredients already (moms have the best spice collections!). The one thing we knew we had to pick up fresh was the lamb. This isn’t a meat my family usually cooks with, so I was a little intimidated. Turns out most grocery stores sell lamb in all kinds of cuts, and we were even able to get a pound of the “lamb stew” cut. These are already cut into 2-inch pieces and trimmed of excess fat. Thank you, Whole Foods butcher!

Within minutes of starting this recipe, the house smelled AMAZING. Both of Christina’s parents came downstairs to tell us it smelled just like Morocco. Success! It tasted just as delicious.

Over a bed of couscous, this stew was the perfect cure to the winter blues.






















Moroccan Lamb Tangine & Couscous
Adapted from Epicurious.com

Ingredients
½ tbsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Ground coriander
¾ tsp Salt
½ tsp Fennel seeds (nb: Christina and I realized we didn’t have these last minute. Whoops. But it still tasted great without them!)
¼ tsp Cayenne peppar (BE WARNED: This stuff packs a punch. If you don’t like your food too spicey, use less. Christina and I had to eat this dish with a box of tissues next to us.)
¼ tsp Black pepper
1-1/4 lbs Lamb Leg trimmed into 2-inch pieces (or the handy “lamb stew” cut).
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 Medium onion, finely chopped
1-1/2 tsp Tomato Paste
1 cup Low sodium chicken stock
½ of a 15-1/2 oz Can of garbanzo beans, drained
½ cup Organic Turkish dried apricot (easier to find than you’d think!)
2 Medium plum tomatoes
1 Cinnamon stick
1-1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1 tsp Lemon zest, packed
1 tbsp Chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
1. Mix the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Add lamb and toss until evenly coated.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a heavy, large skillet over medium high heat. Add the lamb and cook until browned on al sides, turning occasionally and adding 1 more tbsp of olive oil as needed. Cook for about 8 minutes and transfer to a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Add onions and tomato paste to the drippings in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium. Saute until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
4. Add broth, garbanzo beans, apricots, tomatoes, cinnamon stick, ginger and lemon zest and bring to a boil, scraping the brown bits.
5. Return lamb to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until lamb is tender about 45 minutes. Add cilantro about 10 minutes before finished cooking time.

Couscous
1 Box regular couscous
2 cups Low sodium chicken stock
1-1/2 tbsp Butter

Bring stock and butter to boil, add couscous, turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve as a base to the lamb tangine.