Marka hloua - Tunisian lamb shanks

Yes. Lamb. Again. But I promise, for the last time in a while. Lately our culinary feasts have taken us to Andalusia in the form of these lamb shanks and this stifado brought Greece into our kitchen. This recipe sought inspiration from Tunisia - those people love their lamb at least as much as we do! This is the last slowly cooked stew in a very long time and with this we'll tuck our trusty Le Creuset away for some much needed rest and focus our attention to summer... and a lighter life.

The inspiration for this dish is marka hloua, a traditional Tunisian dish. The Arabic name means "sweet stew" and its gentle, aromatic flavour is rather unique. Ground rose buds lend a special perfume-like touch, but if you can't get your hands on any, don't worry. You're still in for a treat.

Originally the dish is of Tunisian Jewish descent and was traditionally made for Shabbat. Since then, however, especially around the region of Bizerte, it's been adopted into the local culinary heritage at large and is still made to celebrate weddings and Muslim New Year.

Usually the meat used for this is boneless shoulder, but having developed a taste for them shanks that's what I used. 

Serves 3

Tunisian lamb shanks:

3 small lamb shanks

1,5 tsp cinnamon

1,5 tsp turmeric

1,5 tsp ground cloves

3/4 tsp ground rose buds

salt, pepper

7,5 dl stock

150 g dried apricots

150 prunes

150 g raisins

150 g chickpeas

Pat the shanks dry. Combine the spices and rub all over the meat. Heat a couple of tbsp oil in a large pot and sear the meat (add into the pan any spice mixture that might have fallen off). Season thoroughly.

Pour stock into the pot and bring to boil. Transfer, covered, into a pre-heated oven (150° , 130° in a fan-assisted one) and leave to cook for an hour. Then fold in the dried fruits (This way they won't overcook and disintegrate) and continue cooking for 1,5 hours. Finally add drained (and peeled) chickpeas and continue cooking for another half an hour.

Serve with rice, bulghur or couscous.

"Wow" sighed The Boy Next Door. "Like sitting around the camp fire on the hills of Gilead" (?) Any geographical discrepancies aside I can only assume the taste was pretty damn authentic. His favourite lamb dish, so far, apparently!

PS. How about cooking a full Tunisian fiesta and starting the meal with these fish keftas?

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

Moroccan lamb cutlets

Our last weekend was full of good food. From Far East (and the Thai beef salad we had for Independence Day) we continued our culinary travels to Middle East and had a nice relaxing Sunday: we bought some lamb that we both adore, opened a bottle of wine and cooked together to the sweet sounds of Arab pop music (read: 150 different songs all revolving around the words "habibi, habibi").

Oh, and in case that first chapter made us sound like one of those depressingly happy-looking, smug couples straight out of a catalogue whose seemingly effortless quality time fills one with envy... keep reading. I promise I'll trash any such illusions in the next chapter!)

The relaxation was cut short by my sudden realization: its the time of the year again when it's impossible to shoot in the natural light after 2pm as there is no light! As a result of obscene flood of profanities and equally obscene time spent editing the photos I was left with the shots below. And a decision to do something about the lighting situation in my kitchen ASAP. As I'm shopping for new lights there isn't much I can do but to squirm with embarrassment and have another glass of wine. Better photos are just around the corner. I hope. Finnish winter, I hate you.

These lamb cutlets on the other hand we loved. Our butcher talked us into adopting some leftover bits in addition to the rack we'd already chosen so I am supposed to write "serves four" and actually mean it but the horrible truth is that we destroyed them all between the two of us. Willpower (or the words "no, I don't really need any more") is so not one of our strong suites...

Serves four  two FOUR  

750 g lamb cutlets

Marinade:

0,5 dl olive oil

the juice and zest (peeled into strips) of 1 lemon

4 large garlic cloves, finely sliced

1/2 tbsp cumin, ground

1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, ground

1/2 tsp cardamom, 

1 tsp pimentón (smoked paprika)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

To serve: mint leaves, chopped (optional)

If you want, toast the spiced on a dry pan over medium heat to release the aromas and combine with oil and the rest of the ingredients. Or just combine all the ingredients of the marinade. Rub the marinade into the cutlets, cover and leave to marinate. For at least, say, 4 hours, but overnight if possible. Turn every now and then to make sure they're evenly coated. Take into room temperature a couple of hours before grilling them, wipe off the lemon zest and garlic scrap, season generously with salt and pepper and grill on a hot grill or griddle pan for 3 minutes/ side. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

These babies were served with fruity couscous...

... and apricot and coriander dressing that got its inspiration from this apricot-stuffed pork (another tragic photo shot in the depressing winter evening's darkness...)

Apricot and coriander dressing:

100 g dried apricots

2,5 dl stock (meat or vegetable)

200 g Greek yogurt

3 generous tbsp chopped coriander leaves

the juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp ground ginger

salt (if needed), white pepper

Cook apricots in stock until soft and plump. Blizz in a blender (the stock and all) and mix in yogurt and the remaining ingredients. Serve either at room temperature or cold. 

But hey - there was a silver lining in this day too. Pinot Noir works well with lamb and the Middle Eastern flavours. New Zealand and Australia are homes to some seriously good choices (Jackson Estate Vintage Widow Pinot Noir is an excellent choice!), though we settled for a slightly chilled bottle of this Australian sweetheart. A fine pair. And a fine man behind the winery - you can read more about him over here!

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

      

Fruity couscous

Now, I love couscous. It makes such a quick and easy side for just about anything. But probably the best thing about it is its versatility. I guess you all know tabbouleh already? But have you tried cooking it in carrot juice and spiking it with mint? Or tried having it as kisir, Turkish tomatoey salad?

We spent last Sunday lunch in decidedly Moroccan atmosphere and paired couscous with some dried fruit.And what do you know - the end result would not look out of place at the Christmas table. I mean - that's where the man of the birthday hour himself is from after all: Middle East...!

In case you want less fruitiness, you can also cook it in vegetable stock. Pine nuts could also be substituted with any crushed nuts or slivered almonds. You can also be creative with herbs (as long as you're generous with them!) and use say, flat leaf parsley instead of coriander.

As a side dish this feeds 4-6

3 dl couscous

3,5 dl orange juice (or vegetable stock or their combination)

2 tsp salt

75 g pine nuts

125 g dried, soft apricots

100 g raisins

2 spring onions, green parts chopped
large bunch of coriander

2 handfuls of mint leaves, chopped
the seeds of 1/2 a pomegranate

Bring the orange juice (or stock) to boil and add couscous. Turn the heat off, cover the pot and let the couscous soak up the liquid for about 3 minutes. Combine with rest of the ingredients and stir well. Serve at room temperature.

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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?

    

Pork stuffed with apricots

Bigger meat-preparing-ventures are The Gentleman's domain. Barbecue, man and a stupendous slab of meat are just one of those things that belong together.

And he does a mighty fine job at it, too. Duck is cooked to perfection every time. Once to a point it actually reduced yours truly to tears. Though work-related exhaustion might have had something to do with it.

Today, however, I took over. And made pork. Probably for the first time ever. The sauce was so good I actually licked the pan.

For 2

Pork:

appr. 500 gr pork fillet

12 dried apricots, halved

1 heaped tbsp butter

1 tbsp thyme

the paste squeezed out of 1 large clove of garlic (or 2 small ones)
(instructions here)
salt, pepper to taste

Apricot sauce:

6 dried apricots

2 dl stock

the paste squeezed from 2 large cloves of garlic
dash of white wine
1 tbsp butter
0.5 tbsp rosemary (or thyme)
2 heaped tbsp cream cheese/ Turkish yoghurt/ appr. 1 dl cream
salt, pepper to taste

Cut the pork fillet open to a sheet- I do it by taking the knife to about 1,5 cm deep and then following the form. Mix together butter, roasted garlic paste and thyme and spread the paste on the pork. Season with salt and pepper and roll tightly. Season the outside too and sear it on the pan in a butter-oil-blend to give the exterior nice, golden colour. Toothpick and butchers string are without a doubt a lot handier tools than say, bare fingers...

Then wrap the pork in foil, bake in 200 for 20 minutes. After removing from the oven, let rest in the foil for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make the sauce. Cook the apricots in the stock for a little while until they soften and plump up a bit. Keep an eye on the pan, as the sugar from the apricots will give the liquid a syrupy consistency which can easily burn. Blizz with a blender together with the roasted garlic paste. Add butter into the pan you just used and then the white wine to get all the flavours out. Then add the apricot paste and mix until smooth. Add the herb and bring the heat up. Then add the cream cheese/ cream/ yoghurt and mix well. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Season as needed and serve with the pork.

Slice the pork and pour any juices left in the foil into the sauce.