Lamb Tagine, in my new actual tagine

So I have finally got round to using my tagine pot I got for Christmas, it took me a while to get round to “seasoning” it. Seasoning the tagine is the Moroccan equivalent of burning in Yorkshire pudding tins. (If you are unaware of what “burning in” the tins means, you cook hot lard in the tins in a hot oven until blackened, and you never ever wash them, seriously my mum has never washed them for all the time I have been alive. Used once a week pretty much without fail resulting in unquestionable seasoning, without doubt they are currently the most prized family heirloom.) Any way to season a tagine leave in water for 6 hours to overnight under water (I used my bath) then pat it dry, coat all over in a half decent olive oil and place in a cold oven bringing up to 160 ^oC. Leave the pot in there for 2 hours and turn the oven off and let the tagine get cold in there. Now its “seasoned”.

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  What you need to feed 4:

  
  

  • 2 lamb shanks (medium in size), lamb should start to get cheaper (in Britain) due to the lambing season nearly being upon us
  • 2 medium onions 
  • 2 tins of tomatoes
  • 500 ml of lamb or chicken stock
  • a hand full of raisins 
  • Harissa paste 
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • a preserved lemon if they are small size ones, but if you’re using a regular sized lemon you preserved yourself (like me) use a quarter of a lemon  
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • a chilli
  • and the all-important spice mix Ras El Hanout 2 tbsp
  • chopped parsley to garnish

  
  

  How to make it:

  
  

  1. Cut any big bits of straggly fat off the shanks and liberally paint with harissa paste and season them with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat a heavy based high walled frying pan with a little veg oil (not olive) until it just starts to smoke. Throw in the shanks quickly browning them all over. Once brown take them out and put them aside. 
  3. Cut the onion into thin slices and finely chopping the chilli; put the onion and chilli in the pan with a good pinch of salt. -The salt will help break down the cellular structure of the onion through the osmosis of water out of the cell, resulting in a softer quicker cooking of the onion.- Add finely chopped garlic when the onions are taking on a golden colour and are soft, fry for a couple more minutes.
  4. To the onions add the ras EL hanout spice mix and the paprika, quickly frying off the spices for a minute. Right now transfer the onion mix to a tagine pot adding in the stock, honey, raisins, tomatoes, preserved lemon and finally the lamb shanks.
  5. Put the lid on the tagine and place in a cold oven, heating it to 160 oC for 4 hours, or until the lamb is tender! Checking every now and again to make sure it’s not going dry.  Garnish with roughly chopped parsley and season to taste. (You can adjust the sweetness or bittiness to your own liking using fresh lemon juice and honey).

  
  -serve with butter seasoned cous cous-