Spring may be in the air, wild garlic is making an appearance in some parts, snowdrop are in full bloom, but in my world, comfort food is still bubbling away on the hob or simmering slowly in the oven.
Top dishes for me are gutsy, hearty casseroles, the one pot wonders that cook happily for hours, meat and veg in one pot, needing very little else to accompany them. There are cuts of meat that just lend themselves beautifully to these dishes, shin of beef and and lamb shoulder being two of my favourites.
Over the winter months Quality Meat Scotland’s comfort food campaign has been encouraging shoppers to cook up some great comfort dishes and their recipe booklet is full of some really delicious dishes.
This lamb casserole, made with lamb shoulder, is spicy and warming and once it’s cooking needs very little attention. The addition of lentils gives an extra zap of protein and adding some root vegetable such as carrots or sweet potatoes will turn it in to a great one pot meal to serve with rice or couscous.
Fragrant lamb stew served with a herbed couscous
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 people | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 1hr 20 minutes |
|
|
|
This warming and wholesome stew is a perfect comfort food dinner for all the family. Adding some extra root vegetables makes it a great one pot to serve with couscous.
|
- 500 g cubed Scotch Lamb PGI
- 1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cm piece root ginger chopped
- 2 garlic, crushed or chopped
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 125 g red lentils
- 1 litre hot lamb or chicken stock
- 12 ready to eat apricots halved
- juice of 1 lemon
- 100 g pomegranate seeds
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
- coouscous cooked according to instruction on packet
- Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the lamb, onion, ginger, garlic over a high heat for 5 minutes or until nicely browned.
- Add the lentils and stock, bring to a simmer then cover and cook gently for 1 hour until the lamb is tender.
- Stir in the apricots and cook for a further 15 minutes. Add the lemon juice to taste then ladle into bowls and scatter with the pomegranate and coriander leaves.
- Serve with the couscous. Feel free to add extra ingredients to the couscous. Herbs such as parsley and mint will work well along with toasted pine nut or pistachio nuts.
Adding extra root vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes to the casserole will save cooking and serving a separate side dish. The recipe is also suitable for slow cooking either in the oven or in a slow cooker- refer to instruction booklet for cooking time.
There’s a great selection of recipes for Scotch beef and lamb on the The Scotch Kitchen website