Lamb and Roasted Cauliflower Stew with Harissa
London, United Kingdom · View all recipes
Overview
Lamb shoulder browned and cooked slowly with tomato, cumin and cinnamon, finished with harissa and dates, and topped with charred cauliflower and toasted almonds. No country is named, but the flavour vocabulary is unambiguously North African. **It contains almonds, which the title gives no indication of.** Harissa, dates, cumin and cinnamon in a lamb stew is a Maghrebi combination, Tunisian in the case of harissa specifically, which is Tunisia's national condiment. The dates are doing what dried fruit does throughout North African cooking: providing a sweetness that balances the chilli rather than making the dish sweet. That savoury-sweet axis is one of the defining characteristics of the region's cooking, and it runs through tagines, pastilla and couscous alike. The cauliflower is treated separately and that is the smartest thing in the recipe. Rather than being cooked in the stew, where it would go soft and grey, it is tossed in smoked paprika butter and charred under a grill, then scattered over at the end. It arrives with texture and colour intact. The white wine is not North African and is worth flagging for anyone avoiding alcohol; it cooks off, but it is there. The source's extended nutritional discussion of cauliflower has not been carried across.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Warm the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and brown it in batches on all sides, transferring each batch to a plate, about 20 minutes in total.
- 2
Put the garlic, tomatoes and onions into the pot and cook, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- 3
Mix in the white wine, tomato paste, cumin and cinnamon and cook for 3 minutes.
- 4
Return the lamb to the pot with the beef stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover and cook for 2 hours.
- 5
While it cooks, heat the grill to high. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter with the smoked paprika in a bowl, toss the cauliflower florets through it and season with salt and pepper.
- 6
Spread the cauliflower on a baking sheet and grill until browned at the edges and slightly chewy, about 10 minutes, turning every few minutes.
- 7
Toast the almonds lightly until fragrant.
- 8
Mix the cornstarch slurry into the stew and bring it back to the boil. Lower the heat, work in the harissa and the dates, season, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- 9
Ladle into bowls and top with the charred cauliflower and toasted almonds.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Nympha Nzeribe- This contains almonds. The title gives no indication, so say so when serving.
- Char the cauliflower separately. Cooked in the stew it goes soft and grey; grilled and scattered on top it keeps texture and colour.
- Brown the lamb in batches. A crowded pot steams the meat instead of colouring it and you lose the base of the whole dish.
- Add the harissa at the end, not the start. Long cooking dulls it and the fresh chilli note is what lifts the finished stew.
- The dates are doing balance work rather than making it sweet. Do not leave them out.
- It contains white wine. The alcohol cooks off but the wine is there, which matters for some households.
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