Peas & Artichoke Moroccan Lamb Tagine
You can easily half the ingredients to this recipe to make less if you are not a big family like us ;). Remember that this recipe uses only the bottom bit of the artichoke which is referred to as the heart. If you plan to use fresh artichokes, which taste so much better, they need to be cleaned and prepared if not already. Frozen artichoke bottoms may also be used if you can't get your hands on fresh ones. In this Moroccan tagine, the peas are typically cooked until very tender. Stewing the peas like this allows them to properly absorb the full flavour of the sauce. The meat should be soft but intact and gravy must be absorbed into a slightly thick stew-like consistency. Take note that you will need to allow more time to achieve these results if using a Dutch oven or pot, and even more time, if slow-cooking in a traditional tagine pot.Serve with some freshly baked Moroccan bread for scooping up the sauce and vegetables.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 kilo Lamb (on the bone) or any meat of your choice, cut into 3-4" pieces
- 2 Medium Onions (chopped)
- 3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped, grated or pressed)
- 2 tsp Fresh Ginger (finely chopped or grated)
- 2-3 tsp Salt to taste
- 1 tsp Crushed Black Pepper Corns to taste
- 2 tsp Turmeric
- ½ tsp Saffron Threads (crumbled)
- ½ cup Fresh Parsley chopped
- ½ cup Fresh Coriander chopped
- 1 Preserved Lemon (sliced in strips) optional if you don't have preserved lemon use ½ lemon juice in stew & add with spices
- 1 cup Olive oil
- ½ kilo Fresh or Frozen Peas
- 1 kilo Fresh or Frozen Artichoke Hearts
Instructions
- Combine the meat, onions, garlic, olive oil, herbs and spices (except for the saffron threads) into a pressure cooker or wide & heavy conventional pot. Cook over medium heat, uncovered and stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Turn the meat over while stirring to ensure all sides are browned.
- When the meat is browned, add about 3 cups of water to the pot & 2-3 preserved lemon strips if using then cover. If using a pressure cooker, close the pressure lid and apply the whistle top and increase the heat to high until pressure is achieved with the whistling. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook with pressure for 25 minutes.
- If using a conventional heavy pot, after adding the water, cook over high heat until the water is boiling then cover and let simmer cook for 30 to 60 minutes depending on your meat type & size. Just make sure the meat is super soft but not separating from the bone.
- Release the pressure from the pressure cooker by removing the whistle (I speed up this process by placing the pressure cooker under a cold running tap) Then remove the lid. I like to check the meat at this point. If it's too soft to continue cooking with the veggies I remove it and place it on a plate to add back in later. If it's not too soft and can handle more cooking, I leave it in.
- Add the peas, artichoke hearts and crushed saffron threads. If the liquid in the pot is not level with the vegetables, add a little more water. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Cook until the liquid is boiling, then cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender & sauce is at the right consistency.
- If you are using a pressure cooker, you do have the option of bringing it back to pressure with the veggies for only a further 12 to 15 minutes, however, I don't find it easy to get the right sauce consistency this way as you would if cooking in a traditional clay tagine. This method tends to leave the sauce slightly more runny. If this happens, you will have to simmer for longer to reduce the liquid or until a rich sauce has formed. And this defeats the purpose of trying to save time and also may overcook the veggies! So, in conclusion, it's best to save time in cooking the meat under pressure in a pressure cooker but then simmer the veggies over a low heat for that perfect texture and consistency of the sauce. The results will taste just as good as cooking it in a real traditional clay tagine!
- There are 2 main ways to serve this, the first is to place the succulent meat pieces in the middle of the plate and circle the artichoke hearts all around it, spoon the stew sauce over the meat and artichoke filling the artichoke cups with the soft stewed peas. you may garnish by placing a sliced preserved lemon over each artichoke cup.
- Or you can serve a meat layer first, then top it with the artichoke hearts filled with peas.
