Nici Wickes: Moroccan spiced Lamb Shanks & Lentils

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

This hearty one-pot dinner is just the thing to warm you up and whilst it’s cooking you can dream of far-off lands as the aroma of Moroccan spices waft around your kitchen.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and sliced thinly

2 tsps. ground coriander

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground ginger

5 cm stick cinnamon or 1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 lamb shanks

1-2 carrots, roughly chopped

2 cm piece lemon peel

Water

1 tsp sea salt + decent grind black pepper

1 large orange kūmara, peeled and chopped into large chunks

½ can lentils, drained and rinsed

Method

Heat oil in a large ovenproof deep pan or pot, like a le Creuset. Fry onions until softened then add in the spices and cook for 1 minute or so. Add in lamb shanks, carrots and lemon peel and give it all a stir. Add in enough water to just about cover the shanks and add in salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer on the stove top while you heat oven to 180 C.

Cover tightly with a lid or foil and place in oven for 1 hour.

After an hour, give it another stir, add in the kūmara and lentils, cover again and cook for a further 1.5-2 hours or until lamb is falling away from the bone.

Serve up, scatter with some fresh coriander and serve with a salad and/or some crusty bread to soak up the juices. Enjoy!

Make it your own

Use lamb shoulder chops instead of shanks.

Add some prunes if you like that sort of thing.

Leave out the lentils and serve with couscous instead.

Potato or pumpkin will work just as well as the kūmara.

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