Just over a year ago J and I spent 4 months travelling around Europe. For 4 magical days we explored the hot, dusty, noisy, overwhelming souks and sights of Morocco. We attended a famous cooking class in Marrakech, we bought spices from the spice vendors in the souks and we purchased a clay tagine from a very persuasive old man! The tagine has been used a few times, and this was our most recent adventure with it.
This recipe was courtesy of the latest Marie-Claire, and it produces a slow-cooked lamb shank that is deliciously tender and falling off the bone. I don’t think the sauce was quite as effective when halved, so next time I would probably do a full amount of sauce, even if only using 2 lamb shanks. For that reason, I’ve reproduced the ingredients for the full recipe.
The slow-cooking caramelises the onions in the lamb juices and spices and produces a sweet sauce to accompany the shanks. It is very Moroccan in this way, as Moroccan food seems to favour the sweet-savory combination. The figs and walnuts are added in the last hour, and the figs become plump with the sauce, which is quite a lovely effect. However, I did feel the walnuts became a bit lost, so I would recommend adding some at the end for extra texture.
I served this dish with cous-cous cooked in stock and with a carmelised onion, cinnamon and sugar topping, however in hindsight I think it was too much sweetness for the dish. J suggested that the dish would be better accompanied by mashed potatoes, and I have to agree. For that reason, I haven’t put up the cous-cous recipe, although you’re obviously welcome to use your own discretion.
I’m sure you’ll see a trend over the next few weeks for hearty, warming winter dishes. In my opinion, slow-cooking when the mercury drops is one of life’s great pleasures!
- Prep Time:
20 min - Cook Time:
150 min - Ready Time:
2 h, 50 min
Ingredients
- 2 Lamb shanks, fat trimmed
- 1 tbsp Olive oil, extra for brushing
- 2 large Onions, each sliced into 4 inch discs then peeled
- 1 tsp Ground ginger
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground coriander
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 4 strips Orange peel (avoid white pith)
- 2 Cinnamon sticks
- 500 mls Water
- pinch Saffron
- 10 Semi-dried figs
- handful Walnut halves
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180*.
- Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
- In a large dutch oven, heat olive oil over a medium heat.
- Lightly brown the lamb shanks all over.
- Remove the dutch oven from the heat and take the lamb out and put to one side.
- Layer the onions across the bottom of the dutch oven. Place the shanks on top. They will not be resting on the base of the dutch oven.
- Sprinkle the ground spices and sugar over the lamb shanks and onion.
- Tuck the orange peel and cinnamon sticks around the lamb.
- Pour the water into the dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle in the saffron.
- Cover the dutch oven and bring to the boil on the stove.
- Once boiling, put the dutch oven into the pre-heated oven.
- Leave for 1.5hrs to cook.
- Remove from oven, add the figs and walnuts. You may need to add a bit more water at this point too.
- Continue cooking in the oven for another hour. The figs will absorb the juices and get plump. The sauce will get sticky - it's worth keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.
- Serve with your side of choice - I would suggest mashed potatoes.
29.06.10 | 
Of: 
by email:
Wow these look devine. Perfect this weather.