Roasted eggplant and lamb stew

A friend tipped me off to this combo of 'smoky eggplant' and lamb, which is served as a soup at one of her favourite weekday lunchtime spots. On a rainy afternoon, I gave it a whirl as a stew, and served with toasted flatbread and hummus, it was delicious.

I brown the diced lamb first and set it aside, covered. I deglazed the pan I used for browning the lamb to make the most of those flavours and added those juices to the slow cooker. I also popped the diced eggplant on a lined baking tray and roasted until softened.

Into the slow cooker went onion, garlic, celery, dried cumin, dried coriander, stock, the browned lamb and the eggplant. I had it on high at first and then low for about 8 hours. Yum!