Moroccan lamb tagine

Week 13, session 1

This week is stewing and slow cooking. I do a lot of cooking like this so was not particularly excited by this week’s learning. However, as always, I did learn something new and this recipe for lamb tagine with herb rice is good!!

The new thing I learnt is that if you brown the meat in a separate pan, when you then deglaze that pan you can taste the liquid it produces (fond) and choose whether it is tasty or not before it’s added to the dish. It’s more washing up which of course I’m resistant to but it makes sense – I have made a slightly bitter tasting stew before and now I know why!

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Recipe

• 500g lamb neck (cut into 2.5cm pieces)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 tomatoes, skinned, quartered and deseeded
• 70g dried apricots (halved)
• 70g dried dates (halved)
• 500ml white stock
• 4tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 3/4 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Small bunch coriander (chopped)
• 200g rice

1. Cook onion with 2 tbsp olive oil in a casserole dish until translucent making sure that to they don’t brown.
2. In a separate pan, add remaining olive oil and brown the meat in batches so as to not overcrowd the pan.
3. Deglaze the pan with a little cold water and taste the fond. If it tastes good, retain to add it to stew later.
4. To the translucent onion, add the garlic and cook for a minute.
5. Add all of the spices and cook them for a minute.
6. Add the meat to the pan and coat in the spicy mixture.
7. Add the stock and the fond (if adding) and bring to the boil.
8. Add the tomatoes, place a lid on and turn down to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes.
9. Add the dried fruit and cook with the lid on until the meat is tender (about 40 minutes).
10. If the sauce is too thin, sieve the stew over a bowl and return the liquid to the pan and boil until thick. Season to taste and return the solids to the liquid to heat through.
11. Add rice to salted cold water and heat on high for 10 minutes until the water is absorbed. Water to rice ratio is 1:1.5.
12. Stir chopped coriander through the cooked rice.