I adore the distinct "gamey" taste that is immediately recognized when taking a large chomp out of a delicate rack of lamb, and that is simultaneously sensed when eating sheep's milk cheese. It is obvious that a sheep's cheese would resemble the lamb meat, just as goat's milk cheese resembles the taste of goat meat, but every time I compare the two I am simply blown away by the lovely taste of lamb. That is why, I decided to make 'Beef Tajine" or, well er...."Lamb Tajine" on my part.
Ethnic, middle eastern food calls to my mother and me so strongly, we often find ourselves making it more than anything else. Therefore, on a very cold night, we found no other solution to the winter blues, than a lovely "Beef Tajine" turned "Lamb Tajine" by one of my personal favorites, Jaime Oliver. To start, I had to make the "ras el hanout" which, yet deliciously fragrant, was not of the standards I had hoped, due to a lack of will power to run to the grocery. Anyway, the task was to marinate the lamb chunks in with the spice blend, for a few hours-overnight. I opted not to marinate this long, which in fact, didn't seem like it made a difference, but in test kitchen fashion, I will try both ways eventually. Although, deep down I feared that the great natural flavor of the lamb would become vague, or disappear with all of the very "present" spices in the marinade. To my chagrin, it did not, and as the lamb marinated, I chopped my veggies(butternut squash, being the star player), and prepared to cook.
With the lamb marinating long enough to my liking, I started to get to work on the actual stew portion. Taking the lamb out of the fridge, I gently fry the lamb chunks in a dutch oven, coated with olive oil. I proceeded to add, onion and coriander(cilantro), which smelled up the kitchen wonderfully, and fried that with the lamb for a few more moments. Next came the can of chickpeas, the stewed tomatoes, and a little deviation from the recipe. The recipes instructed to simmer the tajine for 1-and-a-half hours on the stove. I decided to pop mine in the oven at 375 F, and let it simmer there for the duration.
5:30pm, I come back to my home, and the kitchen smells of a Moroccan village. I am immediately engrossed in the delicious smells of coriander, and cumin, and prepare the rest of the ingredients to go in. Next in the pot, is the fat chunks of butternut squash and the torn prunes. The tajine, continues to simmer for about an hour, or in my case, until the butternut is cooked at 9,000ft elevation.
6:30pm, the last steps of the tajine are ready to be performed. The lamb is flaky, and the butternut squash is not rock solid still, after an hour or so of cooking. With all of the vegetables and spices nicely melded together, and the cooking liquid reduced, so you have more of a stew-like consistency, I put the couscous in a pot on the next boiler, and prepare to serve.
-Yes, I know it looks like quite the mess, but it actuaclly didn't stick at all, and the dutch oven washed beautifully.
6:40pm, after adding a slight bit of water to the tajine, to make it a little less dense, I scoop the couscous into our bowls, and top with the lamb tajine and a generous sprinkle of cilantro. Anxious to eat, my mother and I sit down to enjoy the flavors of the far east.
So, what seemed as if it were going to be slightly daunting at first, ended up being of true ease. The tajine was a walk in the park to make, and gave me my lamb fix that I wanted. This dish had a flavor that did not overwhelm the other components of the dish, but was still very much involved in boosting the dish to its maximum potential. The textures were diverse, with the flaky lamb, the soft, mushy butternut squash, the chewy prunes, and the chickpeas somewhere there in the middle as buffers. Both my mother and I loved this, and would certainly make it again, adding it to our long list of tajines, and indian curries that we have loved.
Soaking up our last bit of sauce with the couscous, my mother and I laid back in our chairs with extreme pleasure, and pondered the vast, and diverse aspects of the flavors in the dish. Bed, was closely impending...
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