This began as a recipe for barbecued lamb chops with a coating of anchovies, garlic and lemon. It was a cutting from a magazine, and it had been kicking around in the box for years and I cannot now remember from whence it came, so I cannot acknowledge the creator. Sorry about that, creator. The combination of flavours looked interesting and I thought I might try it, but I don’t have a barbecue, so, after a little thought, I turned it into a casserole instead. I tried it with the anchovies – 50g – which proved too much, so on the second attempt I proceeded as follows.
Ingredients.
1 ½ cups chicken stock.
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped.
2 tblsp Thai sweet chilli sauce.
Salt to taste.
3 tblsp cornflour.
½ cup chopped parsley.
½ cup chopped mint.
1 bunch spinach, washed, chopped.
Juice and zest of a lemon.
2 tblsp raw sugar.
1 tblsp dark soy sauce.
¼ cup olive oil.
700g lean lamb, diced.
Preparation.
Mix the stock, garlic, salt, chilli sauce and flour together in a bowl and set aside. Place the spinach, parsley and mint in a sealable container. Mix the lemon juice, zest, sugar and soy sauce together, pour the mixture over the spinach mixture and seal it. Set aside, but give it a shake occasionally to make sure that the contents are circulated from time to time. Do all this 2-3 hours ahead of time.
Method.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Heat the oil in a pan over a hot flame and brown the meat all over. Stir in the stock mixture and bring to the boil. Cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens up, then transfer it to a casserole dish or tagine. Cover and cook for 1 ½ hours, stirring it at least once during that time. Stir in the vegetable mixture and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Serve with: New potatoes, or boiled rice.
Serves: 4.
Poddimok 