MOROCCAN SLOW COOKED LAMB

We use this Moroccan Tagine Intense Flavour Paste a lot in the shop. It's made right here in Brisbane by a lady named Suzanne Quintner, who has been making Moroccan marinades, pastes & preserved lemons since well before it was popular to do so (-:

This is what we use on our our insanely popular, Moroccan lamb shanks that come pre marinated. We also sell it instore so you can try using it to marinate different things at home. It's made from onion, tomato, preserved lemons, Moroccan spices, honey, Australian vinegar, garlic, ginger & rose water.

I often get asked if you need a tagine to cook with this paste. The answer is absolutely not. While a tagine pot/dish looks beautiful, it is simply not required to cook these types of meals. A heavy based pot, casserole dish or slow cooker works in pretty much the same way.

Try the tagine paste with anything slow cooked - beef cheeks, lamb shanks, oxtail or even poultry. Try brushing a little on some quails before grilling them.


MOROCCAN SLOW COOKED LAMB
Serves 4

*Pick and choose your own vegetables here, there's no rules. You can use normal potato, throw in some pitted green olives & dates, cherry tomatoes - whatever takes your fancy really.

750g 3cm diced lamb shoulder
Half a jar of Suzanne Quinter Moroccan Tagine Paste
half a sweet potato chopped
1 brown onion cut into large chunks
3 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
eggplant cut into large chunks
Cup of chicken stock or water
bunch of fresh coriander
natural yoghurt (I prefer Meredith sheep milk yoghurt)

OVEN METHOD
Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Throw everything into heavy based casserole dish and cook for a couple of hours or until the lamb is soft and falls apart.

SLOW COOKER
Throw everything into the pot and turn it on. You might need a little more liquid for this method.

STOVE TOP
Throw everything into a casserole pot. Bring to a gentle simmer with the lid and leave for a couple of hours or until the lamb is soft and falls apart.

*Serve on rice, cous cous, quinoa or freekah topped with fresh coriander and a dollop of yoghurt on the side.

SLOW COOKED PORK BELLY IN MASTERSTOCK

This Masterstock from the Stock Merchant is a new favourite ingredient of mine. While it's probably simple enough to make yourself at home, in reality I usually just don't have the time.

Master Stock is traditionally used in Chinese cuisine to marinate, braise and poach meats including chicken, duck and pork. Well known chefs including Neil Perry and Kylie Kwong use Master Stock extensively in their cooking.

The Stock Merchant version is made by simmering their Free Range Chicken Stock with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, a touch of sugar and eight different spices including star anise, mandarin peel, ginger, cassia bark and Sichuan pepper.

The result is an authentic and ready to use Master Stock, perfect for poultry, beef, pork or tofu.


SLOW COOKED PORK BELLY IN MASTERSTOCK
Serves 4

This recipe really is super easy to prepare and cook. 2.5 hours might sound like a long time but you'll be rewarded with a soft as marshmallow, rich flavoured pork dish that your dinner guests will just love! The greens make it healthy too. Obviously.

INGREDIENTS

1kg pork belly
500ml The Stock Merchant Free Range Masterstock
2 cups jasmine rice
2 bunches bok choy
2 finely chopped spring onions
diced fresh red chilli
handful of coriander leaves

METHOD

Preheat oven to 140 degrees

Place pork belly into a heavy based casserole dish. It needs to fit snuggly in the pot. Pour the masterstock in over the pork belly. It needs to cover the pork so add a little extra chicken stock or water so it is just submerged in liquid. Cook for 2.5 hours.

While pork is cooking, prepare the rice and vegetables.

Serve the pork and vegetables on the rice and garnish with spring onions, chilli & coriander.

BEEF CHEEKS - My favourite recipe from Movida

Have you ever cooked beef cheeks before? If you haven't you are missing out. It's another one of those cuts that requires a little bit of pre planning as you have to cook it, slow & low. It'll take a few hours cooked at a very low temperature and you'll be rewarded with a 'melts in your mouth' full flavoured cut of beef. You won't even need a knife!

I've cooked beef cheeks a few different ways over the years but I always come back to this recipe from the first Movida cookbook.

All of the ingredients are very easy to source except for the Pedro Ximenez sherry. For this you'll have to go to a decent bottle shop. The good ones will have a range of them differing in price. For this recipe, a cheaper one is absolutely fine. You're looking at around $27 for a 750ml bottle. Be sure not to use any other type of sherry, especially the dry ones. It has to be Pedro Ximenez to get the right results.

The left over sherry is lovely to sip on after a meal. Its sticky, sweet & raisiny in flavour and goes beautifully with dark chocolate. Or, pour a little over some good vanilla ice cream for an easy dessert.

Here's the link to the recipe.
http://movida.com.au/slowly-braised-beef-cheeks-in-pedro-ximenez-with-cauliflower-puree-carillera-de-buey/

How do you cook your beef cheeks?