In the Crock Pot, ready to serve
This is an adaptation from a recipe in the BBC Good Food “Comfort Food” cookbook. It can be done as a stovetop stew, or in a slow cooker; I’ll provide both methods below. Note: the original recipe called for butternut squash, but since this isn’t widely available in Norway, we went with sweet potato and have never looked back. You can do it either way.
Ingredients
- Olive oil (not needed for slow cooker)
- 900g boneless lamb pieces
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2.5cm piece of root ginger, finely chopped or grated
- 1tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp harissa paste (add more if you want it extra hot)
- 25g plain flour
- 1L lamb or vegetable stock
- 1kg sweet potato, cut into large chunks
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, or four fresh tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and chopped
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 200g baby spinach leaves
- Juice of half a lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method – stovetop
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the lamb and brown over high heat, about 5 minutes.
- Add onion, garlic, and ginger; cook for 3-4 minutes until the onion is soft.
- Stir in the tomato paste, harissa paste, and flour; cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
- Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and chickpeas, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the spinach and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper and serve as soon as the spinach is wilted.
Method – slow cooker
- Add all ingredients except the spinach, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to your slow cooker pot. NB if you prefer, you can brown the meat in a frying pan first.
- Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 7-8 hours.
- Stir in the spinach and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper and serve as soon as the spinach is wilted.
Serve this with warm, crusty bread. Guaranteed winter warmer.
…death to a three-year-old? A week or so ago, my mum was visiting from Australia and overheard me trying to explain to my daughter why the fly on the windowsill couldn’t fly away. I said it got old, had finished living and now it was dead.
I am not a superstitious person. I don’t feel the need to throw salt over my shoulder, I don’t avoid walking under ladders, I like black cats, and I think the best way to dry an umbrella is to open it inside the house. But after the number of terrible things that have happened to me, my friends and my family so far this year, I am just about ready to turn around my thinking on the whole number thirteen thing.
Last week I discovered something unbelievably 
It’s only natural to start thinking more about manners and their importance when you’re responsible for shaping and guiding a young life. Now that my daughter is old enough to express herself verbally, as well as through body language and facial expressions, I find I’m becoming ever more aware of the differences between the way I was brought up, and the way my friends, peers and I are bringing up our children.
I am increasingly concerned about the sorts of things some of my Facebook friends are sharing and circulating – not because I disagree with them (though I often do), but because they seem so willing to perpetuate blatantly untrue statements, quotes and news pieces just because they grab onto the emotive nature of the item, which, frankly, is the intention of the originator.