Lamb Tagine Stew Recipe

Source: Annie O'Sullivan
Lamb Stew: Lamb Stew Recipe Tagine

This Lamb Recipe is Perfect with:

This weekend, I decided it was time for a lamb stew. Now if you live outside of Idaho, October may strike you as a bit early to venture into that wintry category of cooking, but I was inspired by five inches of snow to dive in early.

I am an apricot addict, and so started to look around for a lamb tagine recipe that made use of dried fruit. I landed on Moroccan Apricot Lamb Tagine, from one of my favorite food bloggers, Kevin at Closet Cooking. I adapted the recipe and came up with the perfect cold weather dish. The flavors in this stew are really outstanding. Giving the shoulder a long time to cook in your dutch oven (or if you're lucky, your tagine) allows the North African spices to blend together perfectly as the meat becomes fall apart tender. Raisins and apricots plump up and lend a soothing sweetness to balance the kick of the spices. Try it out on a cold wintry night- it's sure to be a hit.

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use more if you want more heat)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • Lava Lake lamb shoulder (about three pounds, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1.5 inch pieces)
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1.5 inch piece of ginger, chopped
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • about 3 cups of chicken stock
  • 3/4 cup dried apricots, whole
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • parsley, almonds or pistachios
  • couscous

Directions

First, collect all of the spices from the drawer. Ok not really, but you'll need paprika, turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and cayenne pepper. If you have saffron, feel free to add a bit of that as well (owning a bottle of saffron will mark my passage into a new stage of life). To the spices, add lemon zest and the oil. Toss the lamb in this mixture and let marinate for several hours or overnight.

Next heat the oil in a dutch oven. Brown the lamb and remove from pan. Saute garlic. Add onion and ginger and cook for several minutes, until onions are tender. Stir in tomato paste and let cook for about a minute. Add back in the lamb and cover with chicken stock. Bring this to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat and let simmer for about three hours.

Add the apricots (I liked them whole, as they plump up, rather than releasing all of their sweetness directly into the dish) and raisins and let cook an additional twenty minutes. Serve over rice or more traditionally, couscous. This would be good topped with parsley, and almonds or pistachios.