Try out our brand new fresh (not frozen) grass-fed lamb from the Willamette Valley. You can use shanks, stew meat or a lamb roast for this recipe. The spices and dried fruit give the dish an exotic flavor that will warm you on the chilliest, wettest days. Cooked in a dutch oven or in your crock pot, it’s a hearty and healthy meal and easy too. Go to CaveWomanCafe, Dana Zia’s website, for more information on this recipe and a whole bunch of other terrific recipes that focus on local paleo foods.
And stay tuned for a Featured Product article on the health benefits of grass-fed lamb and Anderson Ranches Willamette Valley lamb products.
Moroccan lamb shanks
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
- The meat
- 1 TBS of cumin
- 2 tsp of coriander
- 1.5 tsps of salt
- 2 tsps of fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp of smoked or sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
- 4 lamb shanks
- OR 2 pounds of lamb stew meat
- 2-4 TBS of coconut oil or another high heat oil
- The rest
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 TBS of tomato paste
- 2 cups of broth, chicken or beef (preferably bone broth)
- 1 cup of dried apricots, cranberries or chopped dates
- 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 TBS of finely grated fresh ginger
- Zest of one lemon
- Juice of one lemon
- 1TBS of honey
- Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- This is going to be fun and delicious! Mix the first 6 spices together in a shallow dish, such as a pie plate till blended. Rinse your meat and pat it dry then roll it around in the spices till well covered. Heat up the oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven or other heavy stew pot and brown the meat on all sides. (This is a breeze with the shanks but if you are using stew meat, you will need to do it in two batches so that it will have room to brown) Transfer the meat back to the spice plate after browning.
- In the same pot, add a bit more oil and sauté the onion, reducing the heat to medium, until the onion becomes fragrant and translucent, about 5 mins. The onions will pick up all the left over spices and simply have you dancing over the pot! Add the broth and deglaze your pot by cooking for a few minutes, then add the dried fruit, tomatoes, cinnamon sticks, ginger, lemon zest, juice and honey and bring to a boil stirring often. Last but not least, add the lamb and all the rest of the spices in the pie plate, then reduce the heat to a low enough setting that the stew just barely simmers. Cover the pot and go read a book. Simmer till the meat is super tender and falling off the bone, about 3-4 hours. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve with cooked quinoa or riced cauliflower and sprinkled with fresh cilantro.