Herbed Lamb and Pasta

• 150 g durum wheat pasta (1¾ c)
• 5 ml canola or olive oil (1 t)
• 250 g boneless lamb, any cut, cut into 1 cm cubes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 stick celery, chopped
• 10 ml crushed garlic, fresh (2 t)
• 5 ml dried tarragon
• 5 ml dried rosemary, crumbled
• ½ chicken stock cube dissolved in
• 250 ml boiling water
• 1 x 410 g tin baked beans in tomato sauce
• 50 ml chopped parsley

METHOD

1. In a large pot of boiling water, cook the pasta until just tender. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, in a large non-stick frying pan, heat the oil until hot but not smoking over medium heat. Add the lamb and cook, stirring frequently for about three minutes until no longer pink.
3. Add the onion, celery, garlic, tarragon, rosemary, and cook for another three minutes, stirring gently.
4. Add the stock, water and beans and bring to the boil. Simmer stirring frequently, and mashing some of the beans against the side of the pan, until the sauce is slightly thickened, about five minutes.
5. Add the parsley, toss with the hot pasta and serve with a large salad
6. The mashed beans in this sauce add heartiness and thickening to the sauce. The last minute addition of parsley, adds a bright green note.

Dieticians Note:
Mutton and lamb are the fattiest red meats available. For this reason so little is used in this recipe together with beans which help to bring the fat content of the dish down.
This dish is suitable for carbo-loading as it is high in slow release carbohydrates, and low enough in fat and protein.
Remember that even though pasta has a low GI, it is very concentrated carbohydrate and thus portions must be kept small, as has been done in this recipe.

This recipe is taken from Eating for Sustained Energy 1

by Gabi Steenkamp and Liesbet Delport