Beef Tagine with Prunes & Almonds

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I’m always a fan of one pot/slow cooking and that’s exactly what this is.  Tagine is the name for both the style of cooking and the dish you cook it in.  Of course you can use a normal casserole dish, but the Tagine shape, with it’s conical lid, trapps the steam produced during cooking and returns it to the wide based bottom, keeping the food very moist and offering you the best melt in the mouth results.

I ate this dish on a recent trip to Marrakesh in the beautiful restaurant Dar Zellij.  It was one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in a long time.  To recreate this dish it’s important to get good ingredients.  Your spices should be fresh and to get the best go to Green Saffron http://www.greensaffron.com/home.html, you’ll be amazed at the difference fresh Spices will make to your dish.

Buy well trimmed shoulder or topside of beef for this recipe.  Also get the best Prunes and Almonds you can find, they make a huge difference. Prunes from Agen in France are usually juicy and tasty. Buy whole almonds with the skin on, as these will be fresher.  To remove the skin blanch the almonds and place them in the middle of a tea-towel, then rub the nuts inside the towel and the skins will come off.

50g         unsalted butter (some traditional Moroccan recipes call for rancid butter!)

1 kg        Cubed, well trimmed shoulder or topside Beef

4             Finely chopped Shallots

1             Large clove of garlic, crushed (or 2 small ones)

2 Tbls     Rapeseed Oil, or some other light oil

2 tsp      Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp      Ground Ginger (the one from Green Saffron is delightful, with hints of lemon before the

               warmth)

1 tsp      Cumin

½  tsp    Turmeric

½ tsp     All Spice

½ tsp     Corriander

1 tsp      Saffron Threads incused in 2 tablespoons boiling water

2 tbls     Run Honey

1 tin       Chopped Tomatoes

Some beef stock

Handful Prunes, halved

Handful Apricots, halved

Skinned whole Almonds

Salt & Pepper    (also choose your salt & pepper wisely, Maldon is one of the nicest, or the French

                            grey salt)

 

Handful chopped fresh corriander & mint

  

Firstly, the night before, mix all the dry spices together.  Then take half of the spices and keep them aside.  Mix the other half into the beef cubes and leave them overnight to absorb and soak up the flavours.  When you’re about to make your Tagine add a little flour to the spicy beef and coat all the cubes.  Season with Salt & Pepper.   Put the oil in your Tagine base and heat over the hob till hot.  You need to sear the floured beef. Brown the beef in batches and remove it from the heat.   

Never heat a dry Tagine as it will crack.  Of course if you don’t have a Tagine you can use your favourite casserole pot.  Viking have a great selection. 

Now, melt the butter in the same tagine base until it starts to bubble.  Don't worry if bits of flour and spices are stuck to the base, these will only add to the flavour.

Add the other half of the dry spice mix to the bubbling butter along with the finely chopped shallot and the crushed garlic. Cook out very slowly.  Then add the seared meat to the pot.  Add the saffron infusion to the pot and top up with beef stock (or water)  to cover the meat. 

Now add the prunes and apricots. 

Cover the tagine with the special lid and gently cook for about 2 hours.  The beef needs to be just falling apart.

Don’t forget to season, but take it easy with the salt, as over long cooking any salt used intensifies in flavour.

To finish, add the almonds and a little of the roughly chopped mint and coriander. 

None of the Moroccan restaurants I went to serve couscous with the Tagine, infact they are always separate dishes on the menu, but I like a little couscous with my Tagine, or indeed some freshly baked bread.