Lamb Stew With Tomatoes, Chickpeas and Spices

huskiebear's Note:

North African spices with a basic meat stew recipe from Cook's Illustrated The Best Recipe (aka The Kitchen Bible). I made this for a holiday party to break in my new cast iron dutch oven and everyone loved it. I needed a hotter oven after 2 hours and the lamb wasn't tender yet, but I moved it to the stovetop (covered) and simmered it for another 40 minutes or so and it became wonderfully tender, yet not stringy or dry. I got nothing but raves (and very few leftovers!) on this one! Notes: I used 1.5 cans each of diced tomatoes and chick peas. I browned the lamb in three batches instead of two to keep from overcrowding my 5 qt. dutch oven. Kept warm all afternoon by simmering on the stove on low. I used fresh ginger (about 1 Tbl) and no parsley or cilantro. Could have probably used a bit of salt at the end.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 3 lbs lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1 . 5 in cubes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped coarsely (about 2 cups)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth or 1 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes with juice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 15 ounces chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced or 1/4 cup fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 250.
2. Toss lamb with salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tbls oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown lamb on all sides in two batches. Set aside on plate.
3. Add onions to Dutch oven and saute until softened. Add garlic and cook an additional 30s.
4. Stir in flour and cook until lightly colored (1-2 min).
5. Add stock and deglaze pan.
6. Add tomatoes and spices and bring to simmer before adding lamb and returing to simmer.
7. Cover and place in oven until meat is almost tender (1 3/4 - 2 1/4 hours).
8. Add chickpeas and return to oven until meat is tender and chicpeas are heated through (about 15 min).
9. Can be cooled, covered and refrigerated up tp 3 days before reheating on stovetop.
10. Stir in parsley, discard bay leaves and adjust seasoning just before serving.

Reviews

[Khana]

This was a lovely Morrocan style dish. I halved the recipe and made it on the stove top like a stew. I added a bit more stock to keep it from drying out. I left off the parsley and/or cilantro, didn't have any. Served with some warm pita type flat breads. I have a VERY picky Husband that even enjoyed this dish.

[Melsie]

this is an excellent got 'lamb and a tin of chickpeas what should I cook' recipe. I used our slow cooker too. I made it for 4-5 people ( so 680grms lamb).I followed the recipe but used a can of tomatoes and alittle stock ( maybe 1/4 cup) and transfered the simmered tomatoes to the lamb waiting in the slow cooker. On low for about 5-6 hrs perfect!

[Jewelies]

We really enjoyed this and so did both my young daughters. For this recipe I decided my crockpot would be perfect. I basically followed the recipe exactally except instead of adding the flour to the onions, I made a mix of flour, salt and pepper in a bag and then tossed the lamb to coat before browning. I added the spices to the onion/garlic to toast them slightly before deglazing with stock. Because I used the crockpot I cut the stock back to about 1/2 - 3/4 cup and used all the canned tomatoes. I added the canned chickpeas about an hour before serving. This ended up cooking in the crockpot on low for about 6-7 hours. Served with Recipe #96875 this is a fabulous, filling family meal. Thank you for posting.