What I Ate Today

Recently we decided to sort through our mountain of cookbooks to separate the wheat from the chaff and provide us with a bit more space. Whilst going through this we’ve rediscovered some of our more sporadically used books. Flicking through The African Kitchen by Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin I spotted an exciting looking alternative to a Sunday Roast – Lamb Mechoui. I’m known for being a thorough cook rather than a quick one. This meal was so easy though, it took less than 45mins actual cooking time (excluding marinading time).

Lamb Mechoui originates from North Africa – Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia. It’s a rich, warming flavoured method of marinading and roasting meat. Traditionally it’s done with a whole lamb, complete with all organs. Typically if you’re not feeding a whole tribe, it’s just done with a leg of lamb, I guess because it can be quite tender. The word Mechoui originates from Arabic, and means to roast over a fire. In the book it details how to do a poacher’s roast, suspending the joint off a tree over some coals. With the weather being as it is I opted for a rather less exciting oven method.

Using an oven method I read on some other variations of the recipe, they recommend boning and butterflying the joint (or asking your butcher to) to cook quicker and allow it to remain tender throughout. If you’re cooking in the poacher’s way, the leg is kept whole.

The first stage is to prepare the marinade. For 2lbs (1kg) of meat (excluding bones) I used:

• 1/2 oz Mint Leaves, chopped
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed and chopped
• 1 tbsp Ground Corriander
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Salt

Just mix that all together and rub into the (or over the meat), leave to marinade for 12-24 hours in a cool place (refrigerator). Once that’s done preheat the oven at 180C, place on a roasting tray and cook for 15-17mins per 500g/1lb. That’s it.

Couscous with Caramelised Onions and Raisins

I decided to serve the lamb with another recipe from the book. This went really lovely with the meat – balanced the flavours really nicely, kept things quite fresh and was also very easy to prepare. It was also the nicest couscous I’ve had – it’d be lovely for a lunch idea. The recipe has four stages:

• Hard boil two eggs. Peel and chop. Lightly toast some almonds in a dry pan. Chop.
• Sweat one onion in 1.5 oz butter. Add 2oz Raisins, 1 tsp Brown Sugar, 1 tsp Grated Ginger and 1tsp Cinnamon. Caramelise.
• Prepare 200ml chicken stock with a pinch of saffron. Put 3oz (100g) Couscous in a bowl. Add stock and knob of butter. Leave for 10mins. Fluff with fork.
• Once couscous is ‘dry’ add the caramelised onions mixture, almonds and egg. Top with chopped mint.

Notes on Lamb Stock

Not part of this recipe, but I seem to have found plenty of recipes lately requiring lamb stock and very few shops selling any. Since I opted for the butterflied and boned method I made use of the bones and leftovers to make a lamb stock whilst I waited for the lamb to marinade. This was my first attempt at a meat stock, it was far less hassle than I’d expected it to be. Tasted lovely and rich though. Once it cooled I’ve just stuck it in the freezer until I need it. Apparently it’ll last for about 3 months.