Sunchoke and Lamb Tagine
We met a wonderful Moroccan farmer through the International Institute this year. Zhour Naim grew some of our sunchokes, and the Egyptian green onions. When I told her we cooked Chinese for Thanksgiving, Zhour said she should give us some Moroccan recipes. I told her love Moroccan, and the next thing we knew she was cooking us a sunchoke tagine and Moroccan bread! How lucky are we? She shared the recipe, which she says is very loose and adaptable to a variety of vegetables.
Preparation
Ingredients:
1lb of lamb stew meat (or beef or bison stew meat)
1 lb of sunchoke, peeled and cut into medium pieces
1 big onion, finely chopped
2-3 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 T of olive oil
1 small bunch of both Italian parsley and cilantro
Pinch of black pepper
1 t. of ground ginger, plus two slices of fresh ginger, if available
1 t. of turmeric
1 t. of cumin
Salt to taste
Combine the lamb, onions and garlic, the spices except for the cumin and the chopped parsley and cilantro in a heavy bottom pot. Mix well add 2 cups of water and let cook over medium heat until the lamb is soft, while making sure it has enough water. Sunchoke cooks very quickly–add the peeled sunchoke and let cook for 10 minutes, adding more water if needed, then add the cumin and some more parsley. Stir, cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the sunchoke is soft.
Delicious over rice, or serve with good Moroccan bread.
Bon apetit!