Margaret Johnson's Lamb Shank Tagine
A tagine is both a conical lidded pot in which slow cooked dishes are cooked and the name that is applied to many Moroccan wet dishes. The dishes often include dried fruits and nuts, which when combined with spices, give a haunting complexity of flavour for very little effort. Here you will need to know your tagine pot. Some will happily go into a hot oven and if that is the case then all of the cooking can be done there. Otherwise do your browning in a frypan and finish the cooking in the oven.
Recipe continues below the fold
Serves 4
6 lamb shanks, frenched
half cup flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
half tsp turmeric
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes –or use fresh if available
1 cup dried apricots
1 cup fresh dates or prunes
1 cup chicken stock-packet is fine here
12 black olives, pitted
1 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted
quarter cup coriander leaves
Lightly coat the shanks in seasoned flour. Heat a heavy frypan, or tagine base, and add the oil. Brown the shanks on all sides over/in a medium heat. Add the onion and the spices and cook two minutes longer. Add the tomatoes, apricots, dates, stock, olives and seasoning and combine well. Cover the tagine, or transfer to one, and place in a fairly low oven - the equivalent of 150C. Close the oven and cook for about an hour and a half or until the shanks are meltingly tender. Serve scattered with the almonds and the coriander leaves. Serve with couscous that has been flavoured with preserved lemon, spring onions, olive oil and lots of roughly chopped parsley and mint.