DELICIOUS CASSOULET FROM THE OSBORNE KITCHEN

PORK AND BEAN CASSOULET: serves 2

500 grm roughly chopped shoulder of pork

1 large onion sliced

3 large cloves garlic

1 green chilli chopped

I 300 grm tin chopped tomatoes

2 medium chorizo sausages

1 500 grm tin white flageolet beans

Cup of chicken stock/other

I tbsp hot Cajun sauce

Add cooking oil to a pan and gently colour the garlic, onion, chilli with the addition of a good pinch of allspice and cumin.

Remove and add the pork pieces, tossing in the hot oil until juices are sealed. Remove.

In an earthenware casserole, tip the pre-cooked flageolet beans, the skinned and chopped chorizos and the pork. Add the tomatoes and juice, the stock, several slurps of Cajun sauce and a squeeze of fresh lemon-juice.

Cook on a medium heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve with khubz Arab bread, or crusty baguette for dipping in the sauce, and a green salad of lettuce, cucumber, pre-cooked and chopped string beans and slices of avocado.

Delicious lamb dish from an Arab kitchen

Levantine Lamb

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
small piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
900 g lamb, cubed
2 medium onions, sliced
½ large lemon cut into four
pinch of saffron or turmeric
salt and pepper, to taste
75g green olives stoned
100g laban/thick yoghurt (optional)

Heat the oil in a flame-proof pot and add the garlic, coriander, ginger and mix together. Add onions and lamb, stir well until the meat is seared. Add the lemon, saffron or tumeric, salt and pepper and water to cover.

Bring to the boil, reduce immediately and simmer gently until cooked, about 2 hours. Keep the casserole covered during this time, but stir the contents occasionally.

To thicken the sauce, remove the meat and allow the contents to simmer without a lid, as desired. Strain, then stir in the olives. Stir further then return the meat, warm and serve.

The addition of yoghurt makes this dish even more delicious. Just before serving, stir in the yoghurt and simmer, but do not allow to boil.

Serves 4

Christine Osborne: author of Middle East Cooking (Prion)

Image: Levantine Lamb dish with olives

Source: www.copix.co.uk