Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Apricots
I’ve been really excited to finally make this recipe in an actual tagine. The tagine I bought is made of earthenware pottery. It happens to be unseasoned, so I had to season it. First, the tagine has to be submerged in water for at least 2 hours. After that, the tagine needs to be rubbed with oil and tempered in the oven at 300 degrees for 2 hours. It then needs to cool in the oven. Then it is ready for use.The lamb needs to be cooked in batches, searing for 4 minutes a side. Set the lamb aside. Brown the onions, ginger, and garlic. Mix in the tomato paste and seasoning. Add the lamb back in along with the apricots soaked in beef stock. Place the cover on and simmer over medium low heat for 1 hour. Stir in slivered almonds. Turn off the heat and garnish with cilantro and mint. Serve the tagine over couscous.
Equipment
- tagine
Ingredients
- 4 lbs boneless leg of lamb cubed
- 1/2 tbsp coarse ground salt
- 1 1/2 cups beef stock
- 1 cup dried apricots
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- pinch saffron
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1/4 cup mint roughly torn
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
Seasoning the Tagine
- If this is the first time using a tagine, it will need to be seasoned. If not, skip this step. Submerge the entire tagine in water for at least 2 hours.
- Pat dry. Rub the entire tagine with oil. Place in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 300 degrees. Let the tagine sit in the oven for 2 hours. Turn off the heat and let cool completely inside the oven. Now it’s ready for use.
Lamb Tagine with Apricots
- Season the lamb with salt. Let marinade for an hour.
- Bring the beef stock to a boil in a small pot. Add in the dried apricots. Remove from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Heat up olive oil in your tagine over medium high heat. Brown the cubed lamb in 3 batches for 4 minutes a side. Set the lamb aside.
- Add in the onions to the tagine. Brown for 5 minutes.
- Add in the garlic and ginger. Cook for a minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste, making sure all of the onions are coated. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Stir in all of the spices. Cook for a minute.
- Add in the lamb, stock and apricots. Bring to a boil.
- Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer for 1 hour.
- Take off the cover. Stir in the slivered almonds. Turn off the heat.
- Garnish with cilantro and mint.
