Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Lamb, pumpkin and pomegranate stew

Our bottle of pomegranate molasses is coming in very useful. On Sunday, while he was also making our beef Stroganoff, my husband prepared the bulk of a lamb, pumpkin and pomegranate stew for us to eat on Monday night. The original recipe is in Silvena Rowe's magnificent Feasts book.

He heated some olive oil in a heavy pan and browned 300g of diced lamb shoulder. He seasoned the lamb with salt and pepper and then transferred to a plate. In the pan, he fried a diced medium onion, 2 diced cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of ground cumin, half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes for a few minutes then added back in the browned lamb. He added some lamb stock - enough to cover the meat - and 3 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses, brought the stew to the boil, then simmered, covered, for an hour on a low heat, periodically keeping an eye that the mixture didn't dry out.

Last night, he returned from work and heated up the mixture, adding the cubed flesh of half a medium orange pumpkin, and cooked the stew for another 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin had gone a little mushy. Before serving he stirred through a small bunch of fresh coriander and we ate it with lightly toasted flat bread.

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