Lamb Merguez Recipes

Steps:

• To make the sausage, put ground lamb in a mixing bowl. Using a spice mill or mortar and pestle, grind cumin, coriander, black pepper and allspice. Add to lamb, along with salt, cayenne, cinnamon, paprika and garlic. Mix well with hands to incorporate. Fry a little piece of the mixture in a small skillet. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt if necessary. Mix again and refrigerate at least 2 hours or, preferably, overnight. Form mixture into 24 two-ounce patties.
• To make the vinaigrette, grind cumin, coriander and caraway. Combine with paprika and a good pinch of cayenne in a small bowl. Add garlic, vinegar, lemon juice and salt. Whisk in olive oil.
• Light a charcoal grill or use a grill pan. The heat should be moderate. Grill sausages, in batches if necessary, for about 2 minutes per side, until just done. Keep warm. Paint onion slices with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and grill until softened slightly, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat with zucchini. Keep at room temperature.
• Line a large platter with lettuce leaves and pile sausages in the middle. Arrange onions and zucchini around the platter. Salt the tomatoes and distribute. Whisk the vinaigrette, then drizzle over everything. Sprinkle with cilantro and mint, and serve with warm pita breads, if desired.

Steps:

• Combine salt and fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle and pound until fine. Stir cumin, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, and garlic cloves into the salt mixture and continue grinding to form a thick paste. Stir in harissa sauce and tomato paste until combined.
• Combine ground lamb and the spice paste together with a fork in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Form sausage into patties. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook patties until no longer pink inside, 5 to 8 minutes per side, depending on the size of the patties.

Steps:

• In a small skillet over medium-low heat, toast cumin, coriander and fennel seeds until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer warm spices to a spice grinder and grind well, or use a mortar and pestle and pound seeds.
• In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Form lamb mixture into desired shape (1-inch-thick by 5-inch-long cigars make nice merguez, but fatter cylinders or patties will also work). Chill for up to 5 days, freeze for up to 3 months, or use immediately.
• Brush sausages with oil and grill or broil them until browned and cooked through. Or fry them in a little oil until well browned all over. Serve with more cilantro and harissa on the side, if desired.

Steps:

• Soak 8 wooden skewers in water. Toast all the whole spices in a small pan. Tip into a mortar and grind with a pestle, then mix in with the paprika, harissa, garlic and cinnamon. Scrape into a bowl with the meat, season and squish together with your fingers. Mould the mix into 8 long kebabs, straight onto the skewers. Can be done up to a day ahead.
• When the coals are ashen, barbecue for 10-15 mins, turning occasionally, until cooked through. The fat from the kebabs can cause flare-ups, so be careful. While the kebabs are cooking, mix all the ingredients for the yogurt. Scatter the kebabs and yogurt with coriander, and serve with extra harissa and warm flatbreads.

Steps:

• Combine the spice mix ingredients and grind fine using a spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. The extra can be stored in a glass jar.
• Using a mixer, combine all the sausage ingredients. Add the ice water, a tablespoon at a time until the mixture is well combined. Form a little patty and cook it off, taste and adjust the seasoning as you see fit. Cover and chill overnight (for best flavor), or at least an hour.
• If making patties, dip your hands in ice water as you form them. This mixture will also make one large stuffed casing coil. Chill the patties or coil again if you are not going to cook right away.
• Grill for 10-12 minutes, total, turning once.

Steps:

• Have the meat ground or outfit a meat grinder with the fine blade. Put the meat through the grinder.
• Put the meat into a mixing bowl, and add the garlic, harissa, water, salt and pepper. Blend thoroughly.
• Outfit a sausage machine or a hand grinder with a sausage funnel. Slip the casings onto the funnel. Fill the casings with the ground meat mixture, following the manufacturer's instructions.
• Twist the casings at five- or six-inch intervals to indicate individual sausages. If the casings are not used, individual ''sausages'' can be made by dividing the meat into about 25 portions and shaping each one into a sausagelike shape.
• When ready to cook, heat the oil in a skillet and add the sausages. Cook until lightly browned on one side and turn. Continue cooking, turning as necessary, until cooked through and nicely browned, about six minutes or longer.

Steps:

• Place lamb in a deep kettle (preferably one with a steamer attachment on top). Add onions, rutabaga and fennel. Season with salt, and add 4 quarts cold water (it should cover the ingredients), black pepper and ginger.
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place couscous in a large bowl, and cover with cold water. Mix thoroughly with your hands to break up lumps. Transfer couscous to a steamer attachment with fine holes (if you do not have one, try a colander), and drain the couscous into a separate bowl. Then, transfer couscous to the original large mixing bowl, and let sit 15 minutes.
• Break up the couscous again with your hands, and return it to the steamer or colander. Place the steamer over the simmering lamb and vegetables. Cover and let steam for about 15 minutes.
• Return couscous to a large bowl and, when it is cool, grease your hands with the olive oil and mix the grains thoroughly, breaking up any lumps. Do this several times, adding more oil.
• Return couscous to steamer, and place over simmering meat and vegetable liquid, covered.
• When meat has cooked for 45 minutes, add carrots, raisins, chickpeas and merguez. Taste broth for seasoning. Add more pepper if necessary (withhold salt until the end). Simmer for another 20 minutes. (At this point the stew may be set aside to cool, scraped of any surface fat, and reheated before serving. Place couscous in a large bowl and cover with a damp towel.)
• When ready for final cooking, place stew over a medium-low flame. Place a couscous-filled steamer on top, covered. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Taste for seasonings before serving.
• Place a mound of couscous on a warm plate. Cover with meat, vegetables and broth. Serve with hot sauce, like Tabasco, on the side.

Steps:

• For the marinade, roast the spices in a dry pan for a couple mins until fragrant. Put remaining marinade ingredients in a blender and process to a smooth paste, then add the roast spices and blend again to combine. Place the lamb in a large bowl and pour over the marinade. Leave in the paste overnight, or for at least 2 hrs to absorb all the flavours.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. In a large roasting tin, big enough to fit the meat in one single layer, heat the oil and place over a high heat on the hob. Remove the meat from the marinade, wiping off and reserving any excess, then brown shanks on all sides in the hot oil.
• Add remaining marinade to the dish along with the carrots, onions and prunes, then pour in 1 litre water. Cover the dish tightly with foil and cook in a low oven for 3½-4 hrs until the meat is tender and falling away from the bone. Add the honey, lemon juice and seasoning and keep warm.
• If using, fry the sausages until cooked through, then add to the tagine. Serve the meat in a large bowl with the sauce spooned over, then scatter with the preserved lemons and mint, and serve the harissa on the side.