I cooked this today for Sunday lunch. It's dead easy to make and
absolutely delicious! It combines classic leg of lamb with apricots,
pine nuts and Ras el Hanout, a Moroccan spice blend sometimes called 35 spice mix. It is the defining smell of tagine, and wonderful to cook with in many other ways. The sauce or gravy is thick, intense, meaty, aromatic and a little sweet to balance with the lamb.
You
can buy Ras el Hanout ready mixed from supermarkets if you don’t happen
to have any of the real deal from Morocco hanging around. Or if you
prefer, you can make up something equally tasty at home. The exact
ingredients are up to you, but you might start with about teaspoon each
of black pepper, coriander, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Then you could
add in perhaps half a teaspoon each of some or all of allspice, cardamom,
cumin, fennel, fenugreek, nutmeg, paprika, turmeric or chilli. If you
can find any dried rose petals to throw in, so much the better.
