This tagine is sensational. Slow cooked lamb is served with saffron flavoured couscous and a fabulous Moroccan-style gremolata of macadamias, preserved lemon and mint. The perfect nourishing dish for a cold winter’s night!
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Course Main Course
Perfect for Weekend Wonder
Skill level Easy
Ingredients
Lamb marinade
1large purple onionchopped
5clovesgarliccrushed
1whole bunch corianderroots removed, rinsed
1tbspground cumin
2tspground coriander
1tspground ginger
1tspsweet paprika
Tagine
1.5kgleg or shoulder lambdiced
2tbspcooking oil
2tbsptomato paste
1cantomatoes
600mlwater
1cinnamon quill
8datesseeds removed
1/2cupgreen olivespitted
1pinchsaffron
2cupscouscous
30gbutter
1tspsalt
Macadamia gremolata
1/4cuppreserved lemonchopped
1cupmacadamiasfinely chopped and roasted
1/4cupmint leavesloosely packed
Instructions
To make the lamb marinade, place onion, garlic, coriander leaves and spices in the bowl of a food processor and process to form a paste.
Place the lamb in a non-corrosive bowl. Spread the marinade over the lamb, cover and refrigerate overnight, or at least 3 hours.
To make the lamb tagine, preheat oven to 150°C. Heat the oil over high heat in the base of a large casserole dish that has a lid. Add the lamb, and brown on each side. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, water and cinnamon. Bring the mixture to a steady simmer, cover with the lid, place in the oven and cook for 1¼ hours. Add the dates and olives and cook for a further 30 minutes.
When almost ready to serve, place the saffron in a small bowl and pour over 2 tablespoons boiling water. Allow to stand for 15 minutes.
Place the couscous in a separate bowl with the butter and salt. Pour over 2 cups of boiling water, add the soaked saffron with its water and cover immediately. Stand for at least 10 minutes before removing the cover and fluffing with a fork.
To make the macadamia gremolata, combine all ingredients and sprinkle generously over the lamb.