Couscous with lamb and chicken

Couscous with lamb and chicken

Shopping (serves 4): 2 chicken breasts, 4 lamb necks or a 300 g shoulder cut, and 4 merguez. 4 good carrots, 2 onions, 2 heads of garlic, 2 turnips, white or green cabbage (1/4), 1 aubergine, 2 courgettes. Half a tin of chickpeas, a packet of tomatoes, sultanas. Flour, oil, salt and pepper and sea salt, a chicken stock cube, herbes de Provence and saffron. One soup spoon of Ras el Hanout.

“Ras el Hanout” is a blend of Moroccan spices. I use the following for it (always about a coffee teaspoon each, to make up a table spoon in total): 3 cloves, nutmeg, ginger, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, pepper or preferably cayenne pepper. Of course the ginger can also be fresh.

Method: marinate the chicken and lamb in oil, garlic, pepper, salt and herbes de Provence for well over an hour. In oil, sweat the onions with the second clove of garlic and then brown the meat. Dust the whole thing with a little flour to bind it, then add the stock, salt, tomatoes, spices and saffron. Let the sultanas soak in water and cut the vegetables in large pieces. Add everything except the courgettes and the chickpeas. Add those only after the dish has simmered on low heat for an hour. The courgettes for 30 minutes and the chickpeas for 20. Grill the merguez in a griddle pan or on the bbq. Prepare the couscous with half the amount of water and a little oil and salt. If a couscoussier is available, warm it over the meat and vegetables. This can also be done au bain-marie.