Moroccan Lamb Sausage Stew

An easy midweek meal and full of so much flavour - especially if you like the spice of merguez sausages. If not, plain lamb sausages were used in the original recipe and work just as well, allowing the dish to highlight more of the fragrance than heat. Find a spice blend you like and use that - I love ras el hanout or any of Herbie's Moroccan spice blends.

I like to serve this with some added vegetables - like a simple beetroot, green bean and pea salad sprinkled with some toasted almonds. You don't necessarily need any more carbs but could also add some crusty bread or couscous.

Recipe provided by Richard Huddleston.

Pictured: Moroccan Lamb Sausage Stew

4 – 6 lamb merguez sausages depending on their size, or plain lamb sausage chipolatas if you prefer no chilli kick

1 brown onion, thinly sliced

2 – 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 tbsp Moroccan spice* – a nice tagine blend or ras el hanout, or a Moroccan spice paste – any will work 

1 cinnamon stick broken in half

2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

2 large potatoes, roughly chopped (peeled if required) – substitute with any seasonal root vegetable such as 3 parsnip, 1 celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes would also add lovely flavour and alternate tastes

1 ½ cups/ 375ml chicken stock

400g tin of chopped tomatoes, or roughly chop a tin of whole peeled tomatoes

400g tin of chickpeas, drained

To serve – sprinkle liberally with fresh mint or carefully with dried mint for a perfect final depth of flavour

In a large, deep frypan, heat 1 tbsp of the oil and fry the sausages on all sides, on medium heat to brown nicely without splitting. Set aside in a dish to catch the running juices.

Roughly chop the sausages into large chunks, or keep chipolatas whole. Do not be concerned if they do not seem cooked in the middle as they will finish off in the stew in the final step.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil to the same pan, and reduce the heat to low to gently cook the onion  til soft, add the garlic near the end for a minute. Try not to brown it just cook gently - it will absorb colour from the sausages previously to note.

Add the spice blend, cinnamon, carrots and potato or other root vegetable of choice and cover in the oil and paste. Then add the stock and tomatoes bring to the boil and simmer medium to low heat until the vegetables are almost tender. Add the chickpeas and sausages back to the pan for the final cook through – add earlier if you feel the sausages need more cooking. Simmer away until all the vegetables are tender and the flavours have mingled.

Divide among 4 bowls and serve.

Serves 4

* Moroccan spice mixes and pastes are available in most grocers now, and Herbie's spice mixes are a favourite