I realise that recently, I’ve been posting a lot of red meat recipes. This is a bit unusual for me, as I don’t normally eat that much red meat. I’m not sure why I’ve started buying more, but it might have something to do with the things I’m trying to use up in my kitchen. That’s probably why some of it is needing using up, because I rarely cook with red meat. There’s a combination of cost and wanting to do it right that mean I’m more comfortable buying seafood and chicken (or going vegetarian), as reasons, but either way – at the moment, there’s a lot of red meat going round. Maybe I’m also craving the iron from it, I don’t know.

Some good news though is that this recipe was entirely plastic-free! I went to Feather and Bone and bought the lamb in my Onyx stainless steel container. I went to Live Zero for my dried apricots, and the lamb stock was homemade.

I have to give credit to my colleague for suggesting the tagine, in order to use up my lamb stock. It’s been sitting in my fridge for a couple of weeks, and I needed to use it up (there’s no space in my freezer for it at the moment, so I couldn’t put it in there).

I apologise for the limited photos in this post, but there really isn’t much to show you in terms of steps, nor do I have lots of pretty pictures of the lamb with all its glorious sides.

I’m trying to go low-carb on Mondays to Thursdays at the moment, in order to help regulate my eating a bit more, as I got into a bad habit. So I ate the tagine with a lot of broccoli. But you should definitely ladle it onto some couscous or flat breads and just munch away.

It does require some time, and if you use dates instead of dried apricots, it will need stirring every 20 minutes to stop the dates from sticking to the bottom of the pan. But, it is completely and utterly worth the effort put in, as the lamb is melt-in-your-mouth soft and the sweet and salty flavours combine incredibly.

You can use a traditional tagine pot for this, or just a large heavy-based pot like I did. It’ll work either way.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
500 grams lamb loin fillet, cubed
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon rose harissa paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 litre homemade lamb stock/broth
1/2 cup dried apricots (or pitted dates), sliced

1. In a large heavy-based pot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over a medium heat. Add the lamb cubes, season with salt and pepper, and cook for a few minutes until brown on the edges. Add the plain flour, and stir for one minute before removing the lamb from the pot. Set aside.
2. Turn down the heat to low, add the onion and garlic and cook until soft (about 3 – 4 minutes).
3. Turn the heat up to medium, add the spices and harissa paste, stir well and cook for another minute or two.
4. Add the stock, and stir to mix in any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, then add the lamb and sliced apricots. Stir, and turn the heat down low.
5. Bring to a simmer, cover and allow to cook for 2 hours. Make sure to stir the tagine every 20 minutes or so, to make sure none of the apricots get stuck to the bottom of the pan.
6. After 2 hours, remove the lid for a further 30 minutes to allow some of the liquid to evaporate. Remove from the heat and serve with your choice of vegetables and sides.