Merguez and chickpea stew

I don't usually post what I ate last night, but I don't want to forget this one.  I took a bunch of merguez out of the casing, sauteed it slowly to render the fat.  Then I removed the meat from the pan.  To the wonderfully spiced fat, I added a little more olive oil, a bunch of slivered onion and cauliflower, some stock, tomato paste and braised until the cauliflower was tender.  I then added a can of chickpeas and about a cup of currants and then added the meat back in.  The entire mixture was then simmered gently until dinner, about an hour.  Really, really good, a keeper.

I like sausage a lot! When it becomes part of a dish like this, the seasoning is completely provided by the meat.  I dislike stuffing immensely, so I'll probably start making it more often and keep it in bulk.

Re: Merguez availability

Around Columbus: Mediterranean Food Imports has merguez, it's adequate, not great.  I asked Whole Foods if they had it and they said to ask ahead and they'd make it, but I never followed up.  My advice would be to find a lamb shoulder, grind it and make your own.  After you hunt down a lamb shoulder, the rest of the ingredients are easy to find.