Moroccan Lamb Tagine

This very meaty dish has been with me since the early ‘80s. While living with Sue Hele in Harbledown (on the edge of Canterbury), her friend Howard, who’d been teaching English in Morocco, came to stay. I lost touch with him and his partner Najat when we moved to London and then set off on travels to Asia and Australia, but before then I acquired a couple of recipes.

This is a version of a Moroccan dish Howard made which 10 years later became a favourite of another Sue while I was living in London Street in Sydney – she hated tofu, so I’m glad there was more to life than bean curd…

Traditionally one cooks this dish in the oven in the wide flat vessel that gives the dish its name: a tagine. Once cooked, the food is allowed to cool and brought to the table. Everyone eats from this central dish using bread to scoop up the food. I tend to cook using a more European style metal casserole and serve using plates and cutlery. However, bread remains the best accompaniment (a flat white loaf from my local Turkish/Cypriot shop is a good option) and the perfect accompaniment is a special tomato and green pepper salad I will explain later. The following will serve a least 4 – but just add more bread if there are more people to feed.

4-6 pieces stewing lamb
5 cloves garlic
1 large onion
Generous pinch saffron stamen
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon red pepper
Carrots
Courgettes
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for frying
3/4 pint water

Put the oil in the metal casserole and heat. Chop and fry the onion until it softens and then add the garlic (adding it a little later in the cooking process preserves the flavour). Add the lamb and fry for 2 –3 minutes, turning regularly so that the meat is cooked on all its outer surfaces. Add cumin, pepper, saffron and turmeric and cook for a minute longer while stirring occasionally. Now add the water.

Cut the Carrots and Courgettes into chunky batons and place above the stew in layers, radiating from the centre. Sprinkle with a little salt and red pepper and put the lid on. You can continue the cooking in a low oven, but I’ve found the results are fine if you leave the casserole on a low gas on the top of the oven. Either way, cook for around an hour or until the vegetables have fully steamed and started to fall apart.

Tomato and pepper salad

3 large ripe tomatoes
1 large green pepper
1 teaspoon of Cumin
Salt and pepper

Over a low gas, burn the skin of the pepper while turning regularly. When charred all over, dunk in cold water and rub the burnt skin away. Pat the pepper dry with some kitchen paper and cut into strips.

Cut the tomatoes in half and use a cheese grater to reduce them to a pulp – leaving the skin behind. Combine with cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl and lay strips of pepper across the surface.

Serve the tagine and the salad at the same time with plenty of bread. Fantastic…