I’m new to Crock Pot ownership. In fact, it was my Mother-In-Law who finally bought one for us because I was just so unaware of that kind of cooking. I’ve made slow-cooked meals before, but just using a normal pot on the stove top, or even in the oven in a “brick” (which I think is now called “stoneware”).
But, I went from not knowing what a Crock Pot is, to knowing that if I was going to be getting one then it absolutely had to be red! 🙂
For quite a while I’d been wanting to cook Lamb Tagine, so that seemed like the perfect first choice for my new Crock Pot! I mashed together a few recipes that I found online, because none of them were totally right on their own, until I had created a recipe that I was happy with. Though I’ll probably tweak this one a little more the next time I cook it, but I’m really pleased with how easy it was to do and how tasty the tagine was 🙂
Also, this recipe uses turmeric which is a spice that has many health benefits.
Ingredients:
2 lb lamb, cubed (you can use stewing steak if you can’t find any lamb)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
2 onions, diced
5 carrots, sliced
1 lemon, zested
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger (ground)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cloves (ground)
1 pinch saffron
3/4 tsp corriander (ground)
1/2 tsp cardamom (ground) (if you can’t find this, you can replace with nutmeg)
1 tsp salt
1 cup broth
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp honey
1 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup raisins/saltanas
1. Mix all the spices in a small bowl, toss the meat in the spices to coat it. (I used stewing steak as it seems to be almost impossible to find lamb since moving to America!) Brown the meat in the butter and olive oil to help seal in the flavour.
2. Set the meat aside and place the diced onions in the pan, stir them around (no heat) to “collect” the spice and meat juices.
3. Mix together the stock, honey and tomato puree.
4. Put the onions in the crock pot, add carrots and lamb/steak, then the rest of the ingredients and pour over the stock, honey and tomato puree mixture.
5. Cook on high for 3.5 hours, then enjoy! 🙂
I served ours with some boiled rice, but usually would serve tagine with couscous. I was really happy with how it came out, though next time I would probably add some flour towards the end, to thicken it up, and some extra apricots to add a different texture as the ones added at the start do soften up a lot and I prefer them to still have a bit of a bite.
This is my post for this week’s Hearth & Soul Blog Hop 🙂 Be sure to check out the other recipes on there this week, and follow my blog for more tasty treats!
