Recipe Wednesday: Goal #58 – Jamie Oliver Moroccan Lamb with Couscous

Recipe Wednesday was inspired by the Youngrens, California photographers who cook, photograph, and post recipes on periodic Sundays.  Cooking good wholesome food is something that is very important to my wife and I so I’ve decided to start documenting our kitchen adventures.  You’ll see pictures and recipes from books that are quickly becoming our go-to guides.  Hopefully it can give you some ideas for your own kitchen.

Lamb is one of those meats that we rarely ever buy because of the price.  But every now and then we splurge on something good so we can try out a recipe we’ve been eying for awhile.  This recipe was super quick and easy and oh so tasty!


Moroccan Lamb with Couscous
(serves 2)

1 medium red onion
3 ripe tomatoes
a small bunch of fresh Italian parsley
1 fresh red or green chile
8 dried apricots
olive oil
a small pat of butter
ground cumin
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small handful of pine nuts
1 x 15-ounce can of garbanzo beans
1 and 1/3 cup quick-cook couscous
1 lemon
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup natural yogurt

250 grams of lamb neck filet

1. To Prepare and cook your sauce and couscous:
Peel, halve and finely chop the onion and chop the tomatoes into chunks.  Roughly chop the parsley, stalks and all, and halve, seed, and finely chop the chile.  Finely slice your apricots. Put a frying pan on a high heat and add a lug of oil.  Add your onions, chiles, apricots, and butter and cook until the onions soften slightly.  Add 2 teaspoons of cumin, a pinch of slat and pepper, and the pine nuts, and stir.  Add your tomatoes, mostly of the parsley, and the garbanzo beans, with all their juice and an extra 1/4 cup of water.  Leave the sauce to bubble away for about 5 minutes.  While your sauce is simmering, put your couscous into a bowl and pour in just enough boiling water to cover (no more!).  Add a pinch of salt and pepper, a good squeeze of lemon juice, and a drizzle of olive oil, then cover the bowl with aluminum foil and set aside for 5 to 8 minutes.  Then go back to your sauce and use a poo to mash it up a bit.  When it looks quite saucy, add a pinch more salt and pepper and the balsamic vinegar.

2. To Prepare and cook your lamb
Put a second frying pan over a high heat and let it get really hot.  One a chopping board, cut the lamb into roughly 1-inch cubes.  Sprinkle the board with a little cumin and good pinch of salt and pepper.  Move the meat around the board to coat it in the seasoning and push down with your hand to flatten the cubes into medallions.  Add a few lugs of olive oil and your lamb to the hot pan.  Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until lovely and golden.

3. To serve your lamb and couscous
Uncover the couscous, fluff it up a bit with a fork, and spoon onto your plates.  Put a few lamb medallions next to it with a nice amount of sauce.  Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve with a dollop of yogurt, a drizzle of olive oil, and any juices from the meat pan.

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