Title: Charouf Bil Pisselli O Chedra (Lamb with Kishke & Peas)
Categories: Lamb Libya Jewish
Yield: 8 Servings

1	c	Loosely packed parsley, leaves only
1	c	Loosely packed celery w/ leaves, chopped
2	md	Onions, sliced
1		Masran (Kishke-see recipe)
6	c	;water
2	lb	Lamb chops or shanks,w/bone & cut into 3" pieces
1	lb	Fresh or frozen green peas
1	ts	;salt
1/2	ts	;pepper
1/4	ts	Ground cinnamon
1/4	ts	Ground turmeric
2	md	(1/2 lb)potatoes, peeled & quartered

This dish is a complete meal served w/cous cous, white rice, or bread. It is a favorite preparation in the spring & especially during Passover.

Traditionally, the dish is known as a t'fina since it is prepared on Friday afternoon for the Sabbath midday lunch. The t'fina was cooked on a wood stove. When the fire has been reduced to hot coals, the pan w/ meat, vegetables, & Masran (Kishke) was almost buried in the ashes.

Another typical variation for the Sabbath meal was to put any number of eggs in the shell into the stew pan & cook them for the same length of time. More eggs in the shell were placed in the hot ashes & baked. The egg in the pan absorbed some of the flavor of the richly seasoned stew while those in the ashes developed a brown tinge & a "baked" flavor.

1. Chop parsley, celery, & onions together in a food processor or by hand. 2. Cook masran (already cooked for 1 hr) & all other ingreds, w/just enough water to cover them, in a covered pan over low heat for 1-1/2 hrs more. Serve warm. Makes 8 servings w/other dishes.

NOTE: Lamb was the preferred meat for Passover; many families would buy a lamb that could be ritually slaughtered. Almost everything of the lamb was used including the skin, which was made into a rug.

Recipe: "Sephardic Cooking" by Copeland Mark -- 600 Recipes Created in Exotic Sephardic Kitchens from Morocco to India 1992 Published by Donald I. Fine, Inc., New York, N.Y. DPileggi

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