Another Moroccan style stew with cubed shoulder of lamb

From time to time I crave another spicy lamb stew and as lamb shoulder is on a half price offer at Tesco I took advantage a week ago and made a big pot full to last me three or four days. The joy with this style of stew is the longer it sits in the pot the better it tastes (within limits! blue bits on top are not advisable).

The recipe can be found at a previous blog post:Ras el hanout and moroccan lamb tagine

I found that the Puy lentils really gave the stew an extra level and nutty taste.

 

 

I made the paste in a similar way to last time only without the peppers and with more garlic.

 

 

 



The whole lamb shoulder was too much for one pot full so I froze the amounts into two halves and used one 'half shoulder' amount after defrosting in a bowl of cold water for a couple of hours. Trim away any excess fat but do leave some on as it adds beautifully to the taste. Lamb shoulder is sweeter and tastier than leg, incidentally.

 

 

 

 

I would definitely recommend the Bart's Ras El Hanout spice mix. I have tried a few others and this is far superior, albeit slightly more in cost, and a tin lasts ages. A good investment.

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned in the original blog post (with recipe) it is certainly advantageous getting all the ingredients prepared in advance. Just makes the cooking so much more joyous and straight forward. You don't want to be peeling your spuds when you should be stirring the raw meat into the paste and adding the Ras El Hanout. Oh no. This stew is not one to be rushed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy, as I did!

 

 





After thought: this economical stew was made with  cheaper cuts of meat (half price lamb), things I already had in the house (Puy lentils, spices, a bulb of garlic and olive oil) and vegetables brought at a reasonable price from a local firm. I hadn't got any lamb stock cubes so I used chicken and they were fine.

 

My suggestion would be always try and use what you have at home rather than spending extra money where not needed.