Day 1 of the challenge! We took home our veg box - medium size - which feels rather daunting for a household of two. It's the weekend so we are having meat with our veggies - a carrot & lamb stew, and sprouting broccoli on the side. It's a Maroccan inspired recipe I cut out from a magazine maybe 20 years ago... usually done in the oven on low, but today I'm using our new slow cooker. The lamb is local and organic, from our friends at Dylasau Farm.
My cooking style is basically 'one pot' - easy, delicious, no fuss. So the recipes on this blog are a bit like I cook: non-scientific - please adapt quantities to your taste and size of pot.
For a version of the recipe (not quite the same though) with proper measurements etc. see here.
Ingredients:
from the veg box: onion, carrots, sprouting broccoli
from the cupboard: garlic, fresh ginger, olive oil, stock, honey, cumin, oregano, mint, parsley.
other: cubed lamb or mutton (or a whole shoulder piece)
How To:
Chop the onion, garlic and ginger, (finely) and carrots (roughly).
Season the meat with salt, pepper and oregano.
Soften the onion, garlic and ginger in a dash of olive oil for 5 mins.
Add the carrots and cook for another couple of minutes.
Add mint, cumin, honey, and stock (almost cover the veg).
Bring to the boil, add the meat on top, cover the pot and cook in the oven at 180C for 2 hours or so, until the meat falls apart. If using a slow cooker, sauté veg as above, then transfer to the slow cooker bowl, add the meat on top and set to 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
When done the meat should fall off the bones - pull it off, stir into the stew.
Check the seasoning, add fresh mint and chopped parsley.
Accompany with more veg - any greens for contrast. I steamed the box sprouting broccoli with a chopped clove of garlic for 5 mins, but any greens would work here. I always add a dash of olive oil and lemon juice to serve.
Variation: Serve with minty yoghurt and/or a spoonful of fermented veg (sauerkraut or kimchi) for a bit of fresh zing.
Meat free: Add chunks of tofu 30mins before end of cooking time to soak up the flavours. Or have boiled potatoes with the slow cooked carrots/steamed greens instead.
Confession: If I didn't have the veg box to use up I would probably not have added the extra broccoli. So the box is making us eat more veg - already.