Lamb Tagine with Couscous Salad and Harissa
Serves: 4
Time: 180 minutes
There is a lot of work involved in preparing this dinner, but the flavours are divine so it’s worth the effort it. My suggestion would be now that the restrictions are lifting to have friends over for dinner and make a feast out of it.
Leftovers
If this is just a dinner for two you will have plenty of leftovers as is for tomorrow.
What you'll need
1.2 kg lamb shoulder bone out
1 brown onion
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 litre of chicken stock
5 Medjool dates
3 red onions
4 red peppers
5 bullseye chilli
6 cloves of garlic peeled
1 bunch of mint
1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup of currants
2 tablespoons of ground almonds
1/4 cup of toasted almonds
From the Pantry
2 teaspoons of paprika
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Pre Cook
The tagine can be cooked a couple of days in advanced and reheated when ready to eat which makes this one a very easy dinner to have with guests.
Prep and Cook
Brown Meat
Cut your meat up into large squares and season well on all sides.
Heat a large frypan with a little olive oil and brown the meat off in batches. Transferring to a plate.
Cook Tagine
Peel and finely slice the onion.
Use a large tagine pot or a dutch oven/casserole dish to heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil, saute onion till soft.
Add the paprika, cumin, coriander and turmeric to the onions and cook for 2 minutes. Add the browned meat along with the tomato paste and chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring up to the boil then turn down to a gentle simmer and cover with your lid. Leave to cook for 1 hour.
Remove the stones from the dates and add to the tagine along with the cinnamon. Continue to cook for another 1 hour.
Check your meat, it should be getting lovely and soft, but your juices will be still pretty thin if you are happy with the meat then remove the lid and bring up to a high simmer to reduce the liquid to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon.
Cook Peppers
Preheat oven to 200c
While the tagine is cooking begin preparing the red peppers.
Place in an oven tray along with the chillies and peeled garlic and drizzle with oil. Pop into a hot and cook for 30 minutes. You want the skin to begin to blacken and look blistered.
Remove from the oven and turn into a heatproof bowl and cover with cling wrap, this will steam the skins and make them easy to peel.
Cook Cous Cous
Boil a jug of water.
Empty couscous into a large shallow dish and pour over 3 cups of boiling water, stirring the couscous as you go.
Cover with a tight fitting lid or some wrap and leave to sit for 5 minutes.
Use a fork to fluff up whilst drizzling with a touch of olive oil and wrap again and set aside.
Cook Onions
Peel onions and cut into segments about 6 to each half. Toss with oil and salt and spread out on an oven tray lined with paper. Roast for 20 minutes.
Pick Herbs
Wash and rip the mint.
Pick the parsley leaves and roughly chop.
Pick sprigs of coriander for garnish and chop the stalks and add to the chopped stalks to the tagine.
Make Harissa
Peel the red peppers and remove the seeds.
Cut two peppers up and add to the couscous.
Place two peppers in a food processor with the garlic and blitz till chunky.
Add the chillies 1 at a time checking the heat as you go, you may not need them all.
Add the ground almonds and red wine vinegar and season well. Add olive oil if you need.
Plate it Pretty
Combine the couscous with the onions and peppers and your currants and mint and parsley. Season well and toss together.
Check the tagine for seasoning I always find I add a touch more salt and pepper.
Spoon the couscous into bowls in a crescent shape.
Fill the void space with the tagine.
Top with Harissa, then scatter with almonds and garnish with the coriander sprigs.
Enjoy!
Lunch Tomorrow
Lunch tomorrow is just the salad, but if you need a little more you could add some hard boiled eggs.