Lamb Tagine with Blackberries and Dates
A Tagine is a clay dish with a cone shaped lid that allows steam from cooking to condense and return to the dish. It’s essentially the Moroccan version of a crock pot. Tagines allow long, slow, moist cooking: braising, basically. But with a unique convection current in the liquid that allows flavors to meld in a unique way. A Tagine is also a traditional type of food from Morocco, cooked in a tagine. They tend to be rich, aromatic stews, containing proteins, veggies, dried fruits, alluring spices, nuts, and honey, making a rich, often colorful (this one wasn’t…), and exciting experience for all the senses. There is a lot of room for improvisation, remembering to mix both rich, umami-laden flavors with bright, acidic ones. This was an ad-lib of pantry ingredients, including freeze dried blackberries we had foraged earlier. More traditional than the blackberries would probably be rehydrated dried apricots.
Servings Prep Time
4servings 15minutes
Cook Time
2hours
Servings Prep Time
4servings 15minutes
Cook Time
2hours
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Place the base of tagine on the top of a woodstove, or over a medium flame. Add the ghee and allow to melt.
  2. Stir in the almonds, and saute, stirring frequently, until they begin to brown. Add the onions and garlic, and saute until they begin to turn color. Meanwhile, crush the coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle.
  3. When the onions have begun to turn color, stir in the coriander, ginger, and whole cinnamon sticks. Add the lamb, and stir, making sure all of the pieces are coated in the spices and onion bits. Saute for a couple of minutes. The lamb will turn color, but not really brown.
  4. Place the dates and blackberries in a small bowl and cover with water to rehydrate.
  5. Add enough water to the tagine to just cover the lamb, and bring to a boil. Move the tagine to a cooler part of the woodstove, or turn down the flame. Cover with the tagine lid, or if you’re substituting a crock pot, transfer to the crock pot now.
  6. Let simmer / braise for about an hour, until the lamb is tender and falls apart easily.
  7. Drain the berries and dates, and add to the tagine, along with the orange zest. Stir, cover again, and simmer for another 20 minutes.
  8. Stir in the honey. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer with the lid removed until the sauce becomes syrupy and slightly caramelized, probably about 10 minutes.
  9. Traditionally, serve with couscous. We didn’t have any, so I use basmati rice, which also worked well.
Recipe Notes

It would be nice, and traditionally appropriate, to add a good deal of chopped cilantro or flatleaf parsley, both stirred in at the end and on top as a garnish.  That would lend a nice fresh herb flavor and color contrast.  But we didn’t have any on hand,  and it was still delicious.

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