Chicken and Lamb Couscous

Inspired by a dish that’s traditional in Fes, Morocco — couscous with seven vegetables — this is one of our all-time favorite things to make. Basically it’s a vegetable-happy lamb-and-chicken stew that you serve over semolina couscous grains. Pass around extra broth for everyone to add as they like, along with harissa.

Eons ago, when we started making this couscous, we would prepare the couscous grains in fairly close accordance to the traditional way: steaming the grains several times several times, and raking it with our fingers in between steamings. We’d start the stew the previous day by soaking dried chickpeas overnight. And sometimes we’d make our own harissa. When we didn’t feel up to doing all that, we had a very good short-cut method that took the 5-minute instant couscous route, used canned chickpeas and harissa from a tube.

These days we have a new strategy, centered on the grains and the harissa. For the grains, a brilliant hack we learned from cookbook author Claudia Roden yields results close to multi-steaming in just 15 minutes, with minimal effort. It’s worlds better than the 5-minute method, and so totally worth it. For the harissa, we have become hooked on homemade: Its flavor and texture are spectacular, and it’s not difficult to make. Happily, harissa from a tube is not bad at all, so that’s a shortcut we can still get behind. For the chickpeas, it’s really a matter of your personal preference and circumstance. We slightly prefer this dish made with dried chickpeas, but it dramatically increasing cooking time, which is already long. Canned chickpeas are nearly as good, and so much quicker. Still, if you have some beautiful dried chickpeas, this would be a fabulous use for them.

If you’re interested in the traditional steaming-the-grains method, find it here.

The stew part is very forgiving; here are some ways you might want to tweak, adjust or improvise:

For the meat, you can use lamb shanks or cuts from the shoulder, or a combination. You could even buy lamb shoulder chops and cut them into three pieces each. When we use lamb shanks, we ask the butcher to cut them into three pieces each. Some Middle-Eastern or Mediterranean groceries sell what they might call “lamb cuts,” or something like that — large chunks from the shoulder and/or shank. These are perfect.

For the chicken, our recipe calls for whole legs cut in two or all thighs. You could also use a breast in there, or use a whole cut-up chicken, though the breast meat becomes a bit stringy and dry when cooked that long; we prefer dark meat for this.

For the chickpeas, instructions in the main recipe are for canned. If you’re using dried, soak 1 pound in water overnight. Drain them, and add them to the pot in step 1 with the chicken and lamb.

For the winter squash, feel free to substitute any winter squash you like in place of delicata. Simply roast it (peeling it if necesary), and use it in place of the delicata. Or leave it out altogether. For the zucchini, feel free to use other summer squash in addition to the zucchini, such as patty pan or crookneck. If you want to honor the traditional seven Berber vegetables, add chunks of peeled sweet potatoes with when you add the turnips, and add chunks of cabbage with the zucchini.

RECIPE: Harissa

If you’re serving 4 to 6 people and want to serve the leftovers another day, just make one box of couscous the first day, and make the second box the day you serve the leftovers.

Serves 8-12.

Chicken and Lamb Couscous

Ingredients

About 3 pounds lamb shanks or lamb shoulder, cut into manageable pieces (each shank should be cut into 3 pieces)

1 pound dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained, or 2 (15.5-ounce / 439 grams) cans chickpeas, drained

4 whole chicken legs, separated into drumsticks and thighs, or 8 chicken thighs

1 large onion, diced medium

6 or 7 medium carrots, 2 diced and 4 cut into 2-inch lengths

1 14.5-ounce / 411 grams can of diced tomatoes, with their liquid

1 teaspoon harissa (either homemade or purchased), or more to taste, plus extra for serving

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

A big pinch of saffron, crumbled

A large handful of cilantro, including the stems

3 large or 4 medium turnips, pared and cut into 1 1/2-inch or 1 3/4-inch chunks

2 medium or 1 large delicata squash, ends trimmed and cut into 3/4-inch rounds (optional)

1 teaspoon olive oil (if using delicata squash)

4 or 5 medium zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths

1 1/2 roasted red peppers (from a jar or olive bar), cut into 1/2-inch strips

Sea salt

For the couscous grains

20 ounces / 568 grams couscous (for many American brands, that’s two boxes)

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Place the lamb and chicken in a large stockpot, along with the chickpeas (if using dried). Cover them with cold water by about two inches, and slowly bring to a simmer, uncovered, skimming any scum that rises to the surface every few minutes. Continue skimming until there’s no scum on the surface (this will take some time), then add the onion, diced carrot, tomatoes, harissa, cinnamon, saffron and cilantro, and stir to combine. Continue simmering uncovered over low heat, with the liquid just at a bare bubble for one hour and 15 minutes. If necessary, add more water so the ingredients are all submerged.

2. Add the turnips and carrot lengths, and continue to simmer for 20 minutes, again, adding a little more water if necessary to keep everything covered.

3. If you are including delicata squash, while the stew is simmering, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the squash rounds on a sheet pan, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt and roast for 30 minutes, or until fork-tender. Transfer the pieces to a small saucepan, ladle in a little broth and set aside to reheat before serving.

4. While the stew is simmering, prepare the couscous. (Note: If you want to prepare only a half recipe, or one box in the U.S., follow these instructions.) Pour the grains into a large baking dish. add the salt to 3 cups / 700 ml warm water, stir to dissolve. Pour the salted water over the couscous, and stir it so it absorbs evenly. After 5 minutes stir it again, and let it sit another 5 minutes (for 10 minutes total).

5. Heat the oven to 350 F / 180 C. Sprinkle the olive oil over the couscous, then rub the couscous between your hands to aerate it, break up any lumps and distribute the olive oil. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and set aside.

6. Add the chick peas (if using canned), along with the zucchini, red pepper strips and 1 tablespoon salt to the stockpot. Stir to combine. Simmer 20-30 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender. After the zucchini has been cooking about 10 minutes, put the couscous in the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

5. About 10 minutes before you're ready to eat, prepare the instant couscous according to the directions on the box. Reheat the delicata squash (if using) over medium heat. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and/or harissa to taste.

6. To serve family-style, mound the couscous grains on a large platter, then spoon some of the meats, vegetables and chickpeas over them (use a slotted spoon or tongs).  Add the delicata squash, if using. Or, more informally, you can mound some couscous on each soup plate or shallow bowl, arranging the meats and vegetables over them, directly from the pot. Either way, fill a sauceboat or small pitcher with some of the broth, and pass it around, along with a small bowl of harissa. That way each diner can put some harissa in a soup spoon, dilute it with a little broth, and pour it over his or her plate, then add broth to the plate as desired. Alternately, you can make a harissa sauce by diluting some harissa paste with hot broth from the stew, and pass that around.