Lamb Tagine

I think some recipes with a long list of ingredients can make people's eyes glaze over. Look again though, and see that the first 8 ingredients are spices, most people into cooking will have in their pantry, then all that's left is salt, lemon and orange juices, some stock, the meat and a garnish. Not such a long list after all!

I get a bit of personal satisfaction when I can pull out my little jars of spices, either already ground or, some I prefer to freshly grind 'to order'. I have a small stone mortar and pestle that is easy to pull out for a quick grinding of spice. I love the way this instantly creates the aroma of cooking. Sometimes I toast my spices, but not always. Depends on my mood and time constraints.

My parents, more specifically my Dad, I think, loves to bring me a gift of a Leg of Lamb. I am more than grateful to receive this gift. What to do with this latest leg of lovely Spring Lamb? I wanted to do something quite different, so decided on this Lamb Tagine. Not sure how my dear father would feel about me chopping up his gift. I hoped, that as I would break it up into two meals and one 'cook's treat' that could please him. I planned to make my soup with the large bone, and right then and there I popped the shank-end of the leg into a preheated very hot oven. That was my cook's treat, with nothing on it other than a generous sprinkling of salt, I was salivating at my sneaky freebie!

While I waited for the shank to cook, this is the recipe I started:

Lamb Tagine

2 tsp sweet paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1 kg diced lamb
juice of 1 orange
500ml chicken stock
90g dried apricots, diced
90g sultanas
fresh coriander to serve

Mix spices, salt, lemon juice and oil to form a smooth paste. Coat diced lamb with this mixture and leave it to marinate for at least 4 hours, though overnight would be good too.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the lamb into a heavy-based saucepan, add orange juice and stock, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for 1 hour in the oven, stirring once or twice.

Remove the lid after the first hour and add the apricots and sultanas, return the tagine to the oven for another half an hour to an hour, whatever it takes to give you wonderfully tender lamb

Sprinkle with coriander leaves before serving.

Serves 4

How brilliant is this recipe? I'll tell you, tossing together spices and flavourings, tossing them about with some diced lamb, and then later putting that all into a pot to cook WITHOUT having to brown the meat (yay), is such an easy thing to do. While it is true I gave myself an extra step of boning a leg of lamb and dicing it, you can of course, buy your lamb already diced.

I eased up on the chilli content (the original recipe was double this) just to be sure the children could enjoy it. Also, the amount of meat I started with was 1.2kg which would also further offset the amount of chilli. I surmised, if I had the space, I could put the meat and marinade in the pot I am going to cook with in the fridge before being able to put it in the oven - that would be speedier yet again.

The Lamb Tagine comes from Campion and Curtis; Campion and Curtis in the Kitchen, the recipe suggestion was to serve it with the following rice, I did as I was told and followed reasonably closely to the recipe.

Pine Nut and Saffron Pilaf

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, cut in half and then sliced finely into half-moon shapes
90g pine nuts
1 garlic clove, crushed
pinch saffron threads
400g long grain rice (Basmati or similar)
750ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp chopped coriander or parsley to garnish

Ideally, soak the saffron threads in some of the stock for as long as you can - not a necessity but a best option.

Preheat oven (if not cooking the above Tagine already) to 180C.

Heat oil in a heavy based oven-proof pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until they turn a little golden at the edges, then add the pine nuts, garlic and saffron (if it hasn't been soaked), cook until the pine nuts pick up a bit of colour.

Add the rice and stir about to coat it in the oniony oil for a couple of minutes. Add the stock, bring it up to the boil stirring frequently. Pop the lid on and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the stock is absorbed.

Leave to stand for about 10 minutes before serving, garnish with parsley or coriander and serve.

Serves 4

This is the lamb broken up into it's three parts. The shank end of the leg, ready for my treat. The bone, yes, a fair bit of meat on it. I don't mind this, as it's all going into my soup, so we will eat that meat. I dare say, I'd not be employable as a butcher with my inferior boning skills. In fact 'skill' seems not to fit too well at all, 'attempt' perhaps?


The Tagine, garnished with plenty of coriander, which I adore, and ready for piling over the rice.



I have a favourite Tzatziki, this is not it, but I am always willing to make a different recipe, just in case it supersedes the existing fave. Not on this occasion, though there was a familiarity about this recipe which I liked, I'd stick with my original, which I supervised to see I haven't blogged about. Must fix that. While we are here though, here is the recipe, also from Campion and Curtis.

Tzatziki

350g plain, Greek-style (for preference) yoghurt
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 Lebanese cucumber, grated
pinch of salt (or to taste)
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of dried mint
1/4 cup roughly chopped coriander leaves

Mix it all up, though, best to go gently, don't mix until you have everything in, and then just combine it - the more mixing the thinner you risk your yoghurt becoming.

Serves 8

The thickness of the Greek-style yoghurt means this Tzatziki sits proudly above the bowl. The children love this, especially mixed into the rice - inelegant but delicious I have to agree.



Enough leftovers here for two lunches, in spite of a couple of seconds being served up. The Tagine would have been too spicy without the yoghurt, and in fact, I chose to give Master Closing-In-On-Two a baby meal instead.
A final note on my 'Cook's Treat'. The best bits of this are the crispy tendons. I know it sounds pretty unappetising, but hey, the fewer people who wish to indulge, the more chance for me to have them. All this needs is lots of salt, and a pair of fingers willing to brave the heat, as the bone does keep hot for a while. The meat, while quite well cooked can still be quite delicious, a little dry outside, if cooked for just the right amount of time, the meat underneath the hardened skin will be sticky and flavoursome. It will end up broken into two larger bones (and some bits) as I wish to leave nothing. Of course, there are very often fellow younger family members willing to help me these days.......I still love them though!