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I made the most delicious Moroccan lamb tagine last night, with ras el hanout, fresh vegetables and couscous. It was the first time I’d cooked the recipe and it turned out fantastically. The spice mixture, ras el hanout, had captured my imagination recently and I wanted to give it a shot.

The name means “head of the shop” (or ‘top of the shop’, depending on your source) and it consists of anywhere between 10 and 100 spices. Apparently, it was a favorite of the spice merchants, each of whom had his own signature mix. With so many ingredients to vary, you can bring out just about any aspect, so it’s extremely versatile. I’ve seen it pre-made in shops or online, but hey, there’s no fun in that. There are a bunch of recipes on the web and I added some extra cayenne pepper to mine, which gave it a kick through the sweeter flavors of nutmeg, rose petals, and cinnamon.

From start to finish, the whole thing took about 2 hours, but I was probably only working about 30 minutes. Once you’ve prepped everything, you can whack it into a casserole dish and leave it to simmer. The recipe below makes enough for 2-3 people.

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients
1kg lamb shanks, cut into slices about 4cm/1½in thick
salt and freshly ground black pepper to season lamb
3 tbsp olive oil

For the ras el hanout
1 1/4 tsp all spice
1 nutmeg (to grate)
20 strands saffron
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp mace
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
2 tsp cardamom seeds
2 2-in pieces dried ginger (I grated fresh ginger — worked fine)
2 tsp sale
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp dried rose petals

For the tagine
4 tsp ras el hanout (or however much your above mix made)
1/2 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 3in pieces
2-3 red onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4-5 potatoes, peeled and left whole
1 lb vine-ripened tomatoes, thickly sliced
75g dried apricots, (I used semi-dry)
2 tbsp honey
1 liter chicken or vegetable stock
3 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
2 tsp honey

For the couscous
1 pack of couscous
1 tsp salt
25g butter

1. Make the ras el hanout.
Throw everything into a bowl and mix it up. It doesn’t matter what order you add them,  just make sure they’re all mixed. I broke up the cinnamon into small pieces and broke up the larger items (mace, rose buds, etc) into smaller bits. It should look something the photo at the beginning.

2. Chop the veg
Cut everything thickly and in big chunks and throw it into a bowl off to one side.

3. Brown the lamb
Cut any extra fat off the lamb and season well with salt and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish and add the lamb, browning on each side. (I let mine get a bit crispy, but it’s up to you.)  Scoop the lamb out of the pot and set to one side.

4. The fun begins
Add the ras el hanout to the remaining oil and mix into the hot oil while stirring. I added a few extra tbsp of olive oil at this point. Add the vegetables to the spiced oil and stir around a few times until coated. Place the browned lamb on top of the vegetables and pour in the stock. It should just about cover the lamb. Add the bay leaves, salt and honey.

5. Simmer down
Bring to a boil then let simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Pop in a few times to turn the meat, so it stays moist as the water boils off.

6. Make the couscous
About 10 minutes before the tagine is done, make the couscous [boil water, add to couscous, done]. Add 1 tsp salt and 25g butter to the couscous and fluff it up with a fork. Put it into a bowl and sprinkle freshly chopped coriander (or cilantro) over the top. It looks good and tastes great.

And that’s it! I put it into a tagine to serve, but despite the name, you don’t actually need one for this recipe. We had champagne to drink, but you could pair this with any full flavored red wine, a fruity white wine or beer. Whatever it is, make sure it has a strong enough flavor to stand up to the ras.

Credits:
Most of the original recipe came from Rick Stein at the BBC. I left off the paste and added a few more ingredients to the ras el hanout. The beautiful image at the top belongs to Rouz on flickr.