I was on twitter the other evening when Colette from Cakes, Bakes & Other Bits asked the question- What is a Tagine? This opened up a bit of discussion and triggered a funny memory for me. When I was about 10, my parents went on holiday to Morocco returning with a tagine. Lots of people thought it was a hat. My Dad had gone to lots of trouble to get it home from the market (to be fair this was before Ryanair & the tiny baggage allowances we have nowadays) he had bought it in only to find the chimney part had cracked. Anyway, not giving up on the dream of making a tagine at home, he persevered and insisted on using it on our electric ’80’s style cooking rings. All was going fine until he was just about to serve it up when he lifted the chimney part off and it crumbled in his hands and into the stew. Very disappointing after all his hard work! He informed me this morning that the remnants became a flower pot for years afterwards!

This is a dish I frequently make in my cookery classes and always goes down a storm! It’s a great dish for feeding a crowd as all the work is done earlier in the day so that you can spend time with your guests when they arrive.

My understanding is that a tagine is the cooking vessel made of earthenware from North Africa. It is used to slow cook stews using lamb and chicken mainly. Nowadays, we tend to think of a tagine as the stew itself using North African spices such as cumin, turmeric, coriander, saffron, cinnamon, ginger, all spice, cloves etc. The spice blend Ras El Hanout is also often used which contains a small amount of rose petals to give a light fragrance. It will often contain preserved lemons, dried fruits such as apricots, dates & raisins.

Recipe:

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1.5 kg shoulder of lamb, ask your butcher to bone, trim and cut it into 2 cm dice

2 onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced or chopped finely

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoons of honey

500mls of lamb stock

1 aubergine, chopped into cubes

2 preserved lemons, pips removed, quartered

Large handful of toasted, flaked almonds

Bunch of fresh coriander, chopped

For the marinade:

2 tablespoons ras el hanout

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 ½ tablespoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 ½ tablespoons paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Method:

1. Mix the marinade ingredients with 75 mls of water in a large bowl
2. Add the lamb and ensure it is well coated
3. Cover and leave for 24 hours if possible
4. Heat a large casserole and add oil
5. Brown the lamb in batches, ensuring you keep the pan hot
6. Reduce heat, add more oil
7. Add onions and sweat for 5 mins, then add the garlic and stir for 1-2 mins
8. Return the lamb to the pot and add the tomatoes, lamb stock and honey
9. Boil and then put in oven
10. Stir after 1 ½ hours and add aubergine and preserved lemons
11. Return to oven for 1 hour, cooking for a total of 2 ½ hours
12. Sprinkle the almonds and coriander over the tagine and serve with couscous.

Herby Fragrant Couscous

Serves 6

Ingredients:

300grms couscous

300mls hot chicken stock

2 limes, cut into wedges

Bunch of mint, roughly chopped

Bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

Optional: Sml knob of Butter

1. Place couscous into a bowl and cover with chicken stock, leave for 5 mins
2. Fluff up couscous with a fork and add herbs (& a knob of butter if desired)
3. Sprinkle some lime juice over, season and mix
4. Serve