by Fin Spiteri from These Delicious Things Cookbook by Jane Hodson, Lucas Hollweg and Clerkenwell Boy (Pavilion Books)
Photography: Tara Fisher
My grandmother’s an incredible person. She speaks four languages and tries to call me on Zoom every day. She emigrated from Tunisia with my grandfather more than 40 years ago and still has the most amazing French-Italian accent. They ran a hotel in Kent together when they first arrived in the UK. I think that’s why my family has the hospitality bug. When we were children, she had a house right across from the beach at Bexhill-on-Sea. We loved visiting her there. Most half-terms we would pile into our old Citroen DS for the drive down from London (keeping our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t break down on the way – an all too frequent occurrence).
Our arrival was greeted by the smell of her lamb stew simmering on the stove. We would crowd around her kitchen table, sharing the tender lamb and crumbly couscous, swollen with meaty juices, before falling into bed, tired, sated and ready to begin our holiday. Her heritage was never more pronounced than when she cooked this dish for us and it always makes me think of her. It carries with it the idea of food as family, the importance of sharing a meal to mark an occasion. And, as our short journey came to an end, it was a reminder of where her own had started, many years before.
SERVES 4-6
Ingredients
olive oil
1kg lamb neck, cubed
2 tsp paprika
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cayenne
big pinch of salt
¾ tsp garlic powder
2 onions, diced
4 carrots, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
400ml chicken stock
½ tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp honey
½ tbsp harissa paste
a glass of red wine
500g couscous, cooked
Method
First marinate the lamb.
Mix together the paprika, turmeric, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder and salt with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and use the mixture to coat the lamb. This should ideally be left in the fridge overnight, but 4-6 hours will suffice if you’ve left it too late.
Next, heat more olive oil in a large saucepan and add the lamb. Brown the lamb well before removing from the pan and adding the onions, carrots and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, then add a large glass of red wine and stir well for another 5 minutes.
Add the stock, tomato paste, honey and harissa, then bang the lamb back in and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of hours. The meat will become very tender. When the smell is too much to bear, take it off the heat and serve over the couscous, ideally to a hungry and travel-weary family.
Drinks tasted on air alongside the dish
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