This is a classic lamb tagine with dried apricots, flavoured with saffron, ginger and cinnamon, and sweetened with honey and takes its name from the pot in which it is cooked.
What is a Tagine?
A Tagine is a Moroccan dish that takes it name from the cooking pot of the same name in which it is cooked.
The tagine pot consists of a shallow earthenware dish with a unique conical lid. The food is cooked in just a small amount of liquid as the shape of the lid means that very little moisture is lost through evaporation. Instead, it condenses and runs down the lid back into the pan.
The result is a stew with a thick intensely flavoured and delicious sauce.
Mr B took me to Marakesh a few years back to celebrate a special birthday and I got the rather splendid tagine used in these pictures there. It was really cheap, and the meat I bought back in the UK for the first tagine I cooked in it, cost twice as much as the pot itself!
A one pot dish
Tagines are easy to make and have one big advantage. They are made in just one pot and thus save on the washing up! That's a win in itself. But best of all they taste delicious and make a good weekday family meal or easy dish to make to serve to friends.
Of course, you can make a tagine without a special pan. Just use a large shallow pan with a well-fitting lid but as I have a tagine it is rather fun to use it.
Top Tip for using a Tagine
The secret to a successful tagine is slow gentle cooking until the the meat is meltingly tender and the juices have reduced to a thickened, slightly syruppy sauce.
How to serve Tagines
Fragrant and packed full of flavour, tagines are traditionally served as a course on their own with bread for mopping up the sauce.
They are then followed by a separate course of couscous. Here in the UK, however, it is more common to serve the couscous alongside. I think a side salad or a side dish of roasted aubergine, peppers and onions completes the meal perfectly.
Check out my recipe for How to cook Couscous.
Step by step lamb tagine
Step 1
Fry the onion until softened and beginning to colour.
Step 2
Add the meat and brown on all sides. Add the spices followed by the water and bring to a simmer.
Step 3
Cover and cook for 1 hour.
Step 4
Add the apricots and orange zest. Cook for 20 minutes. Add the honey, adjust the seasoning and cook 10 minutes more until the sauce is reduced.
Leftovers?
The tagine will keep covered in a sealed container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. reheat gently until piping hot adding a little more water if required.
You can also reheat this in the microwave, if you prefer.
Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost before reheating.
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Lamb Tagine
Equipment
- tagine or a shallow pan with tight fitting lid
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon rapeseed or olive oil
- 30 g blanched almonds (1oz)
- 2 onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- good pinch saffron threads
- 5 cm piece root ginger (2in)peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds crushed
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds crushed
- 500 g lean lamb (1lb 2oz) cut into bite size pieces
- 500 ml water (18floz)
- 18 dried apricots
- few strips orange zest removed with a potato peeler
- 2 tablespoon runny honey
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- couscous to serve
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a shallow pan or base of a tagine and stir in the 30g (1oz) blanched almonds, cook until golden, then add 2 chopped onions and cook for about 4–5 minutes until softened and beginning to colour.
- Stir in 2 chopped garlic cloves, then add a good pinch of saffron strands, a 5cm (2in) piece root ginger, chopped, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 teapsoon coriander seeds and ½ teapsoon cumin seeds. Stir well.
- Add 500g (1lb 2oz) cubed lamb to the pan and cook for a few minutes turning to brown slightly, then stir in the 500ml (18floz) water.
- Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour until the meat is just tender.
- Add 18 dried apricots and a few strips of orange zest to the pan, cover again and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Stir in 2 tablespoons honey and season well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. The juices should now be reduced and slightly syrupy. If it is too thick add a little more water, too thin then simmer for a few minutes uncovered.
- Serve with couscous.
Eb Gargano / easypeasyfoodie.com
Jacqui, this looks so amazing - totally my kind of food. I am pretty much obsessed by tagines at the moment and slow cooked stews in general. Such a great way of making cooking easy! Often the hecticness of life means I have time in the day when my kids are at school, but not in the half an hour or so leading up to dinner time, when I'm picking them up from one of their many clubs - tagines and stews are a lifesaver for days like that! Love your gorgeous tagine too - I really want one! Eb x
Jacqueline Bellefonatine
I have had to make quite a few tanginess in the last year or two since I brought the dish. Had to justify lugging it back from Marrakesh! Annoyingly my youngest son doesn't like fruit in savoury dishes which is rather a theme in Moroccan cooking so I can't make them when he is at home from Uni otherwise I would have made even more. He just doesn't know what he is missing!! j x