Lamb Tagine is my pick of all tagines!
Serve overcouscousfor a stunningMoroccanmeal.
Your house will smell amazing!
Before slow cooking – sauce is watery and thin
Lamb Tagine
Ive donechickenandvegetable tagine.
Now its time to meet my favourite tagine child: LAMB TAGINE!
This is a stunner.
All sorts of foods are cooked in tagines, from vegetables to meat and fish.
On the other hand, fish tagines are much quicker to cook!
Heads up the sauce is thick and richly spiced!
Before slow cooking – sauce is watery and thin
Think of all the spices and lamb juices reduced and concentrated you know its going to be good!
Best lamb for tagine
The best lamb to use for lamb tagineis lamb shoulder.
Sometimes it is generically sold as lamb stew meat.
After slow cooking – a thick, richly spiced sauce
Boneless lamb legwould probably be my next pick but its leaner than shoulder so it wouldnt be as juicy.
For chicken, see myChicken Taginerecipe, and Ive also got aVegetable Tagine(its so good!).
you could buy blends but I much prefer to make my own to get the right balance of flavours.
Heres what you need:
I also use ras el hanout forchickenandvegetable taginesbut the blend is slightly different.
For example, because lamb has a stronger flavour than vegetables, the spice blend is stronger.
Ive offered a few switch-out options in the recipe notes!
Dont skip the ginger!
Cinnamon sticks A spice traditionally used in Middle Eastern cooking and makes the flavour so special.
you might substituted with a little powder but cinnamon sticks works better.
Its a little more subtle and earthier.
Chicken stock/broth The braising liquid.
Traditionally water is used, but stock makes it tastier!
Note: Chicken stock is used rather than lamb stock because the flavour is cleaner.
We get enough lamb flavour in this sauce from the lamb pieces.
Ive opted for fruit because tagines are one of the few dishes I love that pairs fruit with meat!
I also think the orange colour of the apricots looks lovely in the sauce.
However, the recipe includes the olive option too.
Tomato paste This is what is used to thicken the sauce and add a touch of flavour.
We dont use enough to make it tomatoey, its very subtle.
Slivered almonds and coriander/cilantro Garnish for serving.
A good amount of both works!
Brown lamb Cut the lamb into large 3.5cm / 1.5 cubes so they dont become fall-apart tender too quickly.
Cooking long and slow = more flavour in the sauce and it needs the time to reduce and thicken!
Usea large oven-proof pot with a lid, so it can go from the stove to oven.
My dutch oven pictured is 24cm / 9.5 wide.
Saute aromatics Cook the garlic and onion first, then the tomato paste, ginger, cinnamon and spices.
Braising liquid and lamb Add the chicken stock, water and lamb, then bring it to a simmer.
Prevent screen from sleeping
Add apricotsthen stir them in.
We add them in partway through else they get too soft.
Unfortunately for this lamb tagine, the oven works best.
But because the lamb pieces gets so tender, it will break apart into the sauce.
The slow cookeralso doesnt work that well because the sauce will not reduce nearly enough in the slow cooker.
So the sauce is too thin and will lack flavour.
But unfortunately not for stews like this tagine!
Tender, but not mushy, were not making baby food here.
The dried apricot adds beautiful pops of sweetness as well as sweetening the sauce a touch.
And finishing with fresh lemon zest is just sheer perfection.
kindly dont skip that!
And Dozer, after 5 hours of photos with lunch guests, was completely done.
What a brat!
!
