Moroccan Spices & Lamb Soup
In attempting to cope with these unusually low temperatures in Atlanta, I’ve been on a soup and stew kick lately. On Friday for David’s homecoming from a week in Mobile, I made a lamb stew from a cookbook called New Flavors for Soups that my friend Brittanny gave me last year for my birthday. This stew calls for unusual ingredient and spice combinations (including cinnamon sticks, paprika and cilantro), but the final result is delicious.
The process for making this soup is similar to my beef stew recipe and puts my beloved Dutch oven to good use. While it is a bit of a process to create this dish, you can make it way ahead of time (even days in advance) and it gets better and better each time you reheat it.
Friday night we enjoyed our stew with a variety of cheeses. My new favorite combination for appetizers is parmesan and dates. While dates aren’t all that beautiful on a platter, they taste wonderful and I enjoy their texture. Naturally gluten-free, of course. On Saturday night I served this stew again to our friends Allison and Adam along with cornbread and a yummy spinach salad, made by Allison, with dried cranberries, cherry tomatoes and homemade salad dressing.
Moroccan Spiced Lamb & Chickpea Soup
- 1 ½ pounds lamb leg steak, or boneless lamb shoulder
- olive oil for browning
- 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into rounds ¼ inch thick (I used 7 carrots because I had small carrots)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1, 29-ounce can chickpeas
- 1, 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 2 small zucchini
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- ½ lemon
- salt and pepper
Trim the lamb of excess fat and cut into 1-inch chunks. In a large Dutch oven, or heavy pot, warm 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding, brown the lamb on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch; transfer browned meat to a large bowl. Add more olive oil to DO as needed.
When all the meat is browned, add 2 teaspoons of olive oil, onions and carrots to the pot. Reduce heat to medium and sauté until veggies are softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cinnamon sticks, paprika, cumin and a large pinch of cayenne and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the stock, raise the heat to high and use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Return the browned lamb and any accumulated juices to the pot. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat and simmer until the meat is just starting to become tender, about 30 minutes.
Rinse the chickpeas and drain well. Add the chickpeas, and the tomatoes with their juices to the pot and continue simmering until the lamb is completely tender, about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and then cut each half crosswise into pieces ½ inch thick. Chop enough of the cilantro to measure ¼ cup. Squeeze the lemon half and measure 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Add the zucchini and cilantro to the pot, stir to mix and cook until the zucchini is tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, then remove the cinnamon sticks.
Taste soup and adjust seasonings. Enjoy!
A note about soups and stews: The cooking times (aside from the browning the lamb initially) are not concrete. In my mind, the longer you let things simmer, the better. I finished making this soup around 5:00 and didn’t serve it until almost 9:00. You can just let it hang out on the stove top until you’re ready to reheat and serve or keep it on low. Labor intensive initially, but then so easy and delicious. I had frozen some of the cornbread from the batch I made last week for chunky lentil soup, and just pulled it out of the freezer and reheated.
Making soup is the gift that keeps on giving. We’re still eating lamb soup at Casa Metcalf, but it gets better each day. At this point the spices have truly seeped into every vegetable and piece of lamb. Yum.
