Kids Make Moroccon Lamb Stew
May 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Posted in Ethnic, kids, Recipes
Lamb with artichokes and spices
We are winding up our fourth year of food appreciation classes yet I think this was our first time ever cooking with lamb. After spending the entire year on the continent of Africa (who knew?), we recently landed in Morocco on our virtual culinary world tour, and in North Africa lamb is a favorite meat, often exotically prepared with spices such as cinnamon and ginger.
Out of all the possible lamb recipes available I chose this one because it also employs artichokes, a spring ingredient in my book. In Morocco, stews like this one, where the lamb is browned with onions, then cooked with tomatoes and seasonings, is called a tagine. We call it simply delicious. The older kids were especially crazy for it, as was the rest of the after school staff. It’s simple and doesn’t take long to cook.
Often you can find lamb stew meat already cut into cubes in the meat aisle of the supermarket. For my classes, I chose a whole butterflied leg of lamb weighing nearly five pounds and had the kids in each class cut portions of it into small chunks. In my classes, the kids do all of the work, except the actual cooking.
Cut 1 1/2 pounds lamb into bite-size dice (about 3/4-inch). Season aggressively with salt and pepper and brown on all sides in a heavy skillet greased with extra-virgin olive oil over moderately high heat. Meanwhile, chop 1 medium onion into medium dice and add these to the skillet. Continue cooking until the onions are lightly browned.
Add to the skillet four large tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger), 1 14-ounce can baby artichokes roughly chopped, a handful of fresh parsley leaves roughly chopped, and 1/2 cup water.
I imagine you could use fresh baby artichokes for this if they were cooked ahead separately. After adding all of the ingredients, cook another 15 minutes. If it looks a little dry, add more water. Adjust seasonings and serve warm with plenty of couscous to soak up the juices.
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