Moroccan Lamb with Couscous

For this one-dish, crock-pot dinner, lamb and vegetables are cooked very gently in a spiced broth giving them a really lovely flavour. Steeping the couscous in this liquid a short time before serving is not usual, but it works beautifully and is absolutely delicious.

For 4-6 servings:

Ingredients

• 2 medium onions
• 2 medium carrots, quartered and sliced
• 1 kg cubed lamb shoulder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• 1 x 400g can whole tomatoes in juice
• 1 x 400g can chicken consommé
• OR 1 x 750 ml carton of Real Chicken Stock
• ½ - 1 tsp salt
• 250g couscous
• 1 tsp olive or canola oil
• ¼ cup pinenuts
• ¼ cup dried currants
• chopped fresh coriander to garnish

Method

Peel the onions and cut each into 12 thin wedges. Place the onions, sliced carrots and cubed lamb in a slow cooker bowl coated with non-stick spray, and sprinkle with the spices. Pour in the whole tomatoes and their juice and the chicken consommé, and stir to combine.

Cover with the lid and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. Turn the slow cooker to HIGH. While it is heating up, season the lamb mixture to taste with salt, then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the lamb and vegetables to a bowl, cover it with foil and keep it warm.

About 10 minutes after turning the slow cooker to HIGH, stir the couscous into the cooking liquid, replace the lid and cook for about 20 minutes, until the couscous has absorbed the liquid.

While the couscous cooks, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the pinenuts and cook, stirring frequently, until the nuts are golden brown, then sprinkle in the currants and cook for about a minute longer, or until they puff up and look plump. Stir about two thirds of the pinenuts and currants through the cooked couscous.

Serve the lamb and vegetables over the couscous, garnished with the remaining pinenuts and currants and some chopped coriander.

Serve alone or with a plainly dressed green side salad.

NOTE: Because some slow cookers cook faster than others, you may find that the lamb cooks more quickly than suggested. In this case, the next time you prepare this dish you can allow a shorter cooking time if you want to.

Heating the pinenut and currant mixture in oil makes such a difference to the flavour and texture. The currants puff up like little balloons! And pinenuts are evidently one of the few wild nuts harvested in the USA. The fairly small, rather stunted pine trees they grow on cover thousands of miles on rough, wild ground in the "South West" - up mountains and down canyons!

Suggested Wines to Go With Today's Recipe

CABERNET BLEND

Red Rock Gravel Pit 04

Unison Red 04

Seppelt Dorrien 99

Alluviale 04

Te Whau The Point 04