Lamb tagine

Tagines are a North African speciality, usually made with lamb or goat. As they're slow cooked, you can use the toughest part of the animal, because in a good tagine the meat should fall off the bone and melt in your mouth.

Lamb tagine

one and a half teaspoons of each: turmeric, dried chilli flakes, whole cumin seeds, paprika
2 red onions
garlic cloves
olive oil
2 lemons
orange juice
flat-leaf parsley
coriander
fresh ginger

2 carrots
dried apricots
2 lamb shanks

On medium heat, toast all of the dry spices in a pan until the aromas are released, then blitz until you get a powder.
Add one onion, some garlic, the juice of one and a half lemons, the coriander, the parsley and the ginger to the blender, and blitz until you have a smooth paste.
 Then add 40 ml olive oil and 60 ml orange juice to the blender until you have a smooth sauce. Marinade the meat in the sauce for several hours (or overnight for maximumflavour).

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Heat rapeseed oil in an oven-friendly pan  (or even better, a tagine dish!) over a high heat.
Take the meat out of the marinade, pat dry, and sear in the pan until browned.
When browned, add a chopped onion, the chopped carrots, the apricots, and the rest of the marinade. Pour in enough stock to cover the meat, add a squeeze of lemon juice, cover with foil, and put in the oven.
After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 160C, and leave to cook for several hourse unril the meat is tender.

Serve with jewelled cous cous and minted yoghurt.

Jewelled couscous (couscous with pomegranate seeds)

Tips
Don't use a widepan, because you want to cover the meat with liquid, but too muxh will silute the flavour.
Add blanched almonds before serving.
Once plated, top with sesame seeds.

Lamb tagine