Morrocan lamb tagine

In honour of our new tagine, I thought that I would try to cook in the style. In the end I was too concerned about using our tagine - I was worried that the heat might crack the base! - so used a saucepan.

As inspiration I followed this recipe by Rick Stein. I made quite a few changes for various reasons.

The dish was a mix of wonderful flavours, and quite spicy. Definitely one to make again!

Tagine
400g diced lamb
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons ras el hanout
250g carrot, cut on diagonal in 3cm pieces
100g onions, sliced
200g small potatoes, halved
200g sweet potato, cut into the same size as the potatoes
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
40g dried apricots, halved
1 tablespoon honey
500mL chicken stock
2 bay leaves
salt

Couscous
200g couscous
1/4 teaspoon salt
200mL boiling water
15g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Spice Paste
2 garlic cloves
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt


Season lamb with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Place all of the spice paste ingredients into a mortar and pestle and grind to a smooth paste.

Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Add lamb pieces and brown on both sides. Remove from dish and set aside.

Add the spice paste to the remaining oil and fry gently for 2-3 minutes.
Add the ras el hanout and fry for a further minute.


Add the carrots, onion, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, apricots and coat with the spice mixture.

Return the lamb to the pan. Add the honey and enough stock to not quite cover the meat. Add the bay leaves and half teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer gently, uncovered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the lamb is tender. Stir occasionally.

Ten minutes before the tagine is cooked, put the couscous and salt into a large bowl, stir in the boiling water.

Cover with a tea towel and leave to soak for five minutes. Then uncover and fluff up into separate grains with a fork. Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan, add the couscous and stir over a low heat for a couple of minutes until heated through.

Notes
- The recipe called for lamb shanks. By the time I made it to the butcher they had sold out of shanks and were half way through packing up their store for the day. I had to make do with diced lamb.
- Scutti's where we buy our fruit and vegetables did not have ras el hanout in their spice collection. The cook book that Chad's sister had given us had a recipe so I used that to put together most of the spices.
- I left out the coriander due to the cost of buying it and the fact that I could only buy it in large quantities.
- I did not peel any of the vegetables.
- I thought that the couscous was quite bland, so next time would try to find an alternative recipe with a more interesting flavour.