This is one of my favorite stews. It is perfect for the really cold months and for large gatherings when you have a lot of people to feed. In isn’t your everyday beef stew. For one, it has equal parts lamb in it and then it also has a middle eastern flair…a little dried fruit, a little ginger…it’s a good thing. I recently made it for our Christmas party and it was a huge hit.
You’ll need a big pot. I needed a really big one because I had a lot of people to feed but this recipe is scalable.
You’ll want to set yourself up with a rack and two bowls, one with flour and one with your meat cubes.
Get your pot very hot with vegetable or grape seed oil. (Olive oil has a low smoking point and will burn too easily). You could also use butter.
Toss your meat in the bowl of flour, shake it off…
…and place it in the hot pot to brown. You can flour the meat in large batches to make it go more quickly.
Let your cubes get brown on all sides. But we’re not trying to cook them through here, just give them a crust and a seal to lock in the juices. You don’t want to crowd the pot because that will steam them and they won’t get the brown color we’re going for.
Like so! Put the browned cubes on a rack and then add another batch.
Once you have all of the meat browned on a rack, place it back in the pot.
Sprinkle with your salt and spices…
Spices like cinnamon and ground ginger…mmm
Then add any vegetables you desire. I took these turnips from the garden which were especially sweet from the first frost. So I only added a few.
Then onion…
Rutabaga. Ooh, purty.
Turnips.
Carrots. Basically whatever you have would be perfectly fine. Just remember the theme is “sweet and spicy.”
Once you’ve added all of those to the pot, you next add dried apricots…
And prunes!
Then barely cover with beef stock and let ‘er stew for several hours partially covered. You’ll want to bring the liquid up to a boil and then lower the heat so the liquid is gently percolating.
It is a delightful stew. Sweet and spicy all at once. And the lamb has a higher fat content than the beef which keeps all the meat moist.
Ingredients Instructions
http://georgiapellegrini.com/2009/12/22/recipes/moroccan-lamb-and-beef-stew/
Wow, this look divine!!! I can't wait to try it.
Oh YUM. I have to try this!
I love that this is a little more interesting than your average stew. I'm going to try it out on my family!
It was delicious!
This looks delicious and I know it was! I love lamb and prunes…
Talk about perfect timing. Just relocated to upstate NY from coastal Carolina and need something to keep me warm, this should do the trick nicely.
Oh my gosh, this week I have been putting off work (I know, procrastination is bad, right?) with watching lots of Anthony Bourdain and have been seriously craving lamb. The guy eats a lot of lamb. And I just arrived back in Rochester NY where is is snowy and cold. Really cold. I want stew, I want lots of slowly cooked meat to warm my belly and my soul. Anyways, my prayers have been answered. Thanx
Planning to try this, looks great.