Four for Dinner

Tonight, we had our 90-year old, former neighbor, over for dinner. Mrs. “D” is one of our favorite people, EVER. She defines spunk. Grandma and WG were over last night and we had braised chicken with tomatoes and garlic, served over pasta. I wanted something easy and hearty for tonight, especially because the weather was cold and rainy all day. I thought a lamb stew would fit the bill and I perused the Epicurious app on my iPhone this morning looking for the right recipe. I found one that was so highly rated, I couldn’t believe it was true. On the other hand, I had to try it myself.

The recipe, called “Moroccan Slow-Cooked Lamb“, was one of the best recipes that I’ve made in a long while. It was even better than I thought it would be, given the rave reviews. I did make a couple of changes – not big – because I didn’t want the dish to be too sweet and I wanted additional veggies. So, I reduced the apricots to about 1/3 cup, chopped them coarsely; added a few chopped, pitted prunes; and, added about 3 big carrots cut into chunks. I found that I didn’t need to simmer the dish to reduce the sauce – it was already fairly thick, perhaps because I cooked the dish in a big enameled cast iron dutch oven, instead of in a large skillet. Chopped parsley seemed to be a better choice for us instead of cilantro. I made the couscous, as indicated in the recipe, with toasted almond slivers, chopped parsley and lemon zest. The whole wheat couscous was cooked with a little butter and chicken broth, and fluffed before adding the almonds, etc.

This was definitely a keeper. A truly succulent, flavorful dish that I will make again! Even though J doesn’t like lamb, I think she would have liked this meal, had she ventured to try it. As it was, she ate left-overs from our meal with Grandma and WG (this was our plan, ahead of time). S, L, Mrs. “D” and I ooo’ed and ahhh’ed over the lamb. No pictures – even though it was picture-worthy!