Lamb Tagine with Honeyed Prunes

Trying to decide what to cook over the weekend ... I was rummaging through the freezer yesterday when I discovered three half legs of lamb, off the bone, and suddenly realised it's been quite a while since we've had a tagine. I've several favourite recipes in my files to choose from but finally decided on this one, which I originally found on the internet. That was how I discovered Hilaire Walden and subsequently her wonderful book The Moroccan Collection from which the recipe comes.

First thing this morning I prepared the marinade and put the cubes of lamb to soak up all that wonderful flavour for a few hours. I can't be faffed with grating onions so I chop them finely in the food processor. The most important thing is that the onions are very fine and so cook down into the sauce, no big chunks please. I cook this on top of the stove as I try to avoid putting the oven on in the hot weather and I find that works fine as long as I put a difuser under the wide, thick-bottomed pan I use so that the tagine cooks really slowly. In fact, I had it gently simmering for almost two hours so the meat was really tender and melt in your mouth.

We've harvested loads of cape gooseberries from the garden and so I thought to use them to make a jewelled couscous to serve on the side. As there are prunes and almonds in the tagine I didn't stir through pine nuts or chopped dates and raisins as I usually do, but added chopped coriander and mint before serving to give colour. The cape gooseberries I cut in half and after bringing out the aroma of the spices (one teaspoonful each of mixed spice, ground cinnamon, ground coriander and ground cumin) in a little oil, added them to the pan with a little brown sugar, a squirt of lemon juice, and vegetable stock. This I then brought to the boil, stirred in the couscous, and removed from the heat, letting it stand for about 10 minutes until the grains swelled. Delicious! Roasted chunks of butternut squash and courgette completed the meal ... wonderful colours and sooo tasty.

Lamb Tagine with Honeyed Prunes - Serves 6

1kg (2lb) shoulder of lamb, in 4cm (1 1/2 inch) cubes
3 plump garlic gloves, crushed
4 tablespoons of olive oil
large pinch of dried chilli flakes
1/2 tsp each ground ginger, ground cumin, and paprika
pinch of crushed saffron threads
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Spanish onions, finely chopped
2 x 400gm (13oz) cans of tomatoes
1 strip orange rind
2 cinnamon sticks
bunch of coriander, chopped
24 large ready-to-eat prunes
3-4 tablespoons clear honey
75gm (3oz) toasted blanched whole almonds
mint leaves to garnish


Put the lamb into a bowl. Add the garlic, oil, chilli flakes, ginger, cumin, paprika, saffron and plenty of black pepper. Stir to coat the meat well. Cover and leave to marinade in a cool place for at least 2 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight.

Heat a large, heavy casserole. Add the lamb in batches and brown evenly. Remove and keep to one side. Now sauté the onions until tender, adding any marinade left in the bowl. Return the lamb to the pan, add the tomatoes, orange rind, cinnamon and half of the coriander. Mix well then cover and cook either in a preheated oven, 160ºC/323ºF/gas mark 3 for 1 1/4 hours, or on top of the stove.

Meanwhile, put the prunes into a saucepan with the honey and just enough water to cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the prunes and the cooking juices to the tagine and cook for 15 minutes, adding the remaining coriander after about 7 minutes. Scatter almonds over the tagine, garnish with mint leaves and serve with couscous.