Lamb Tagine – A Moroccan Masterpiece

This entry is filed under Meat Recipes.

tagine

“There’s a party going on here and your taste buds are invited!”

You are looking at the perfect antidote to dark, damp, autumn days.  A wonderfully comforting, aromatic dish with complex flavours that dance across your tongue. Best of all, it’s totally stress free – requiring very little effort from you, yet impressive enough to serve a supper party. Marvellous!

N.B The secret magic ingredients are plenty of spices and preserved lemon. But whatever you do, don’t use the nasty bottled ones from the supermarket. If in doubt go without and forget the lemon on this occasion. BUT do yourself a  BIG favour and make up a jar of preserved lemons. Made in minutes but lasting ages, they taste fab, are cheap to make and pretty versatile.

Serves
: 4
Preparation & Cooking Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Effort Level: Easy
Shelf Life: 3 days

Ingredients:
1 kg diced shoulder of lamb
2 onions
6 tbsp ground almonds
6 fat cloves garlic
15g fresh ginger
1 preserved lemon otherwise omit
100g dried no-soak apricots
2 tbsp Knorr liquid beef stock
1 heaped tbsp ground cumin
1 heaped tbsp cinnamon
2 level tsp turmeric
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp salt
Bunch fresh coriander leaves

Equipment:
2 litre flameproof casserole dish
Food processor
Plastic bag
tin foil

N.B  – For best results make the day before you plan to eat it, so the flavours can fully develop.

Here’s What You Do:
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2

Fill and boil the kettle.
Tip the spices into a plastic bag along with 1 tsp salt, throw in the diced lamb, shake until the meat is coated then transfer to the casserole dish.

Now, blitz the onions, garlic and ginger until fairly fine and tip them onto the lamb.

Next, roughly chop the preserved lemon and add to the casserole along with the ground almonds and dried apricots.
 
Pour over 500-750ml boiling water from the kettle to just cover the meat,  add 2 tbsp Knorr liquid beef stock, bring up to the boil, then put the lid on and transfer to the oven. Leave to cook for 1 1/2 hours on the middle shelf.

At the end of cooking time, take the casserole out the oven. Skim off any surface fat with a spoon.

The sauce should have a good consistency. However, if you want it thicker, ladle some of the liquid into a wide frying pan and place over a high heat for a few minutes until you have the desired consistency, then pour it back into the casserole

Finely chop the coriander and stir through the meat, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Serve with couscous or pitta bread.

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One Response to “Lamb Tagine – A Moroccan Masterpiece”

  1. Tina says:

    A really great recipe-:*

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