Tagine

A lid-shaped pot that cooks almost dry, where the steam runs back down the cone instead of leaving.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg lamb shoulder, in large pieces on the bone
• 2 onions, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 preserved lemon, as on its own page
• 150 g green olives, rinsed
• a generous pinch of saffron
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bunch coriander
• 1 bunch flat parsley
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 200 ml water, and no more
• salt and pepper

Method

1. THE CONE IS THE COOKING METHOD AND IT IS WHY THE WATER IS SO LITTLE. Steam rises into the tall lid, condenses on the cool slope and runs back down into the dish, so almost nothing is lost over three hours. Two hundred millilitres looks like a mistake beside any European braise and is correct here; a tagine filled with stock produces a lamb soup, and the whole point is a sauce that reduces to a spoonful of intensity.
2. WITHOUT A TAGINE POT, USE A HEAVY CASSEROLE WITH A TIGHT LID AND ADD A LITTLE MORE WATER, perhaps 300 ml, checking once an hour. A flat lid returns less of the steam. This is worth saying plainly rather than pretending the pot makes no difference.
3. AND IT IS NOT STIRRED. The ingredients are arranged in layers -- onions beneath, meat on top, everything else around -- and left in place. Stirring breaks up meat that has cooked for three hours and clouds a sauce that should stay distinct.
4. Saffron crumbled into 3 tablespoons of warm water and steeped 10 minutes.
5. Oil in the base of the tagine or casserole. Onions spread over it in an even layer with the garlic.
6. Lamb arranged on top in a single layer, bone side down.
7. Ginger, turmeric, salt and pepper scattered over, the saffron and its water poured on, and the cinnamon stick tucked in.
8. The herbs tied into a bundle with string and laid on top -- they come out at the end rather than being eaten.
9. The 200 ml of water poured down the SIDE, not over the meat, so the spices stay where they were put.
10. Lid on. The LOWEST possible heat, with a heat diffuser under it if you have one, for 2 hours 30 minutes. It should never be heard to boil.
11. The herb bundle lifted out. Preserved lemon peel, rinsed and sliced, and the olives added now -- any earlier and both go bitter and the lemon dissolves.
12. Lid off, heat up slightly, 20 minutes more until the sauce has reduced to a thick layer around the meat rather than a liquid under it.
13. Rested 10 minutes off the heat, and served in the pot with bread rather than a spoon.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Morocco · All recipes