When fall hits, is there anything better than cosying up with piping hot bowl of delicious stew made with fresh seasonal produce? I think not. One of my favourites to make is a Moroccan lamb stew for the wonderful mix of spices and flavours, it is the furthest thing from a boring and bland traditional stew.

But what to make it in? An authentic tagine isn’t exactly something I have laying around in the kitchen, or have much use for on a regular basis. Enter All-Clad‘s super sleek Brushed D5 Dutch Oven from the fall collection of these high-end kitchen metalcrafters.

A dutch oven is a magical pot that can go from stove top straight in the oven. In the case of the Brushed D5, with its mirror polish finish, it can also go to your tabletop and look as fabulous as any centre piece. I find these pots are ideal for the gal on the go, because you basically shove a bunch of ingredients inside, and end up with a delicious meal when it’s done.

Since I normally make this dish off the top of my head, I’m basing this recipe off one I found in the LCBO’s Autumn 2012 issue of Food & Drink (in stores now) to make it easier for you guys to follow along.

Ingredients:

3 lbs. boneless lamb shoulder (you can also use beef if lamb isn’t your thing)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp all-spice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp each, salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 sliced, dried apricots

1 cup canned, drained and rinsed chickpeas

1tsp orange zest

2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 freshly chopped parsley

1 tbsp freshly chopped mint

Instructions:

1. Trim lamb and cut into 1-inch cubes. In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown lamb in batches. Transfer to plate.

2. Heat oven to 350F/180C

3. Drain any fat from pan and reduce heat to medium. Cook onions, carrots, garlic, cumin, all-spice and cinnamon, stirring until onions are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste for 30 seconds.

Add wine, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook stirring for 1 minute. In this case, I added a glass of Skinny Grape, a new low-calorie pinot grigio available at the LCBO that will only set you back 80 calories per glass. It’s also quite nice to drink while you are cooking. A little for the stew, a little more for you, and so on.

5. Add chicken stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Return lamb and any accumulated juices to pan; bring to a boil.

6. Close the lid and place the pot into the oven for 60 minutes.

7. When the hour is up, stir in the chickpeas, raisins and apricots (the stew will have thickened) and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.

At this point, it’s time to make your side of couscous – the food so nice they name it twice! When the stew is ready, pour it over the couscous and garnish with fresh parsley and mint. Here I also served it up with a side of sauteed swiss chard.

Enjoy!

For more information on All-Clad, please visit www.all-clad.ca