Meat Recipes

Harissa lamb stew with chickpeas and kale

Harissa Lamb Stew with cous cous

I seem to be obsessed with kale at the moment – we’ve been eating it in stews, as crisps and even drinking the stuff. I’m quite late to the party but now that I’ve arrived, I’m loving it! As well as kale, I love cooking leftovers and that’s how this recipe for harissa lamb stew started life; with a bag of kale, a jar of harissa paste and a mountain of roast lamb from an Easter weekend roast.

Among the thousand other jars in my fridge, I always have harissa paste. It’s kind of an essential for me, along with pesto, mayo and usually one of those plastic tubs of Thai green paste that blows your socks off if you use too much.

Roll back to a couple of weekends ago, we had dinner at Dave’s parent’s house. His mum had cooked a gorgeous roast dinner for Easter with a perfectly cooked and enormous leg of lamb. She sent us home with some leftover meat and the next night we were home late and needed something relatively quick to eat so I threw the lamb in with some passata, wilted spinach and harissa among other things… Turns out it was delicious and ready in around 30 minutes!

harissa lamb stew with chickpeas and kale

After a few tweaks (and another roast lamb dinner later) I think I’ve found the perfect mix. Although, having said all that, this harissa lamb stew would work perfectly without meat or with added vegetables in place of the lamb to make it vegetarian.

Ingredients: Serves 2

  • Small onion, diced
  • 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely diced or grated
  • A fat garlic clove, crushed
  • 1/2 red pepper, cut into big dice
  • 1 tbsp harissa paste
  • 1 handful of kale, chopped
  • A small tin of chickpeas (215g)
  • 1/4 jar of passata (equivalent to approx 150ml)
  • 1 handful of leftover lamb – cut into bitesize chunks.
Frying onions, cooking kale and cous cous

Method:

  • Fry the onion, garlic and ginger on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until soft but not browned.
  • Stir in a tablespoon of harissa paste and allow it to cook for a few minutes, stirring into the onion mix. Add the red pepper.
  • Pour in the passata (as much as you want but I’d recommend around 1/4 of one of those 680g bottles)
  • Add in a handful of kale and the drained chickpeas. Stir them through (don’t worry, the kale will wilt down with the heat from the sauce).
  • Finally, add the lamb, drop the heat right down and put a lid on the saucepan. Leave for around 15 minutes so that the kale is fully cooked and the lamb is heated through.

To serve, I just added some cous cous (seasoned with half a vegetable oxo, black pepper and fresh coriander and mint) and creme fraiche seasoned with mint and a sprinkle of paprika.

This is rich and spicy. The lamb compliments the harissa and the chickpeas add a nice crunch. We’ve really enjoyed eating this dish and it’s now on my list for cooking with leftovers!

0 Comments

  1. YUM!!! I grow kale and general just pick off leaves as I need them. However When the plants need taking a bit, I hack great hunks of leaves, spend HOURS washing, removing bugs & drying it, then chop it up and freeze in big bags. It is SUCH a godsend to pull out a couple of big handfuls and throw into a dish like this. If you've got room to grow it, it's quite a structural and cool looking plant 🙂
    Janie x

  2. Thats dedication to kale. I'd love to grow my own vegetables but we don't have a garden so I'm not sure Dave would be too pleased if I started putting planters in the lounge! Hehehehe!

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