Lamb tagine with apricots

9:30am Thursday 12th January 2006

SLOW food: It's my favourite type of cooking. On Boxing Day we were invited to have lunch at one of our supplier's homes, (well Nigel is one of the family really).

Anyway he and his lovely wife live in a wonderful thatched cottage (a delightful part of English culture) in a small village.

After saying yes to their kind hand of friendship we sat down to smoked salmon with its trimmings and then lamb shanks. I was in heaven, and the flavours were beautiful.

We had a lovely time it felt like Christmas.

I love slow cooking from taking the time to cut up the vegetables, seal in the juices and colour the meat, roast off the spices, prepare the bouquet garni and then wait. And wait and wait.

Honestly it's the wonderful smells that linger for hours, the smell of cinnamon, bay or juniper, with lamb or duck.

The smell of cumin, garam masala, coriander and chillies in your favourite curry. Or is it the smell of lemon grass, ginger and garlic? It could be as simple as a Bolognese sauce or a pot bacon soup.

The thing you have to remember is the essence of these dishes is the labour of love in preparation and the patience of waiting and yes, even for the busy person, I think it's a great dinner party method.

You prepare in the morning clean up, go shopping, have a sleep, finish some work, play with the kids and the meal is taking care of itself while you have hours of free time to make the rest of the event a success and stay calm.

Why does slow cooking work in some cases and not in others?

It's the cut of meat for example we wouldn't cook a fillet of beef for hours because the fillet is so tender and its use in the body is minimal whereas the leg or joint works hard and is full of muscle.

Slow cooking breaks down that muscle and tenderises it. For example with a lamb tagine, cooked with lots of oil and stock to extract the meat flavour into the oily liquid (sauce) you could marinate the meat overnight but the true flavours will come out when the spice is sealed off with the meat.

Both are sealed into each other by cooking for a long slow time, the flavour from the meat, spice and fruit in most cases will create an intense liquid, which is the flavour.

The most important point is the quantity of flavour you will need so the dish is enhanced and not melted away by the length of time it spends on the stove or in the oven.

This is generally achieved by large amounts of the onion family my rule is for every kilo of meat I would use two medium to large onions and use three or six cloves of garlic. The same rule applies for spice but go easy on the strong ones, as I show you in my recipe.

Braising, roasting, stewing and confit are long slow cooking methods; cuts of meat that generally suit would usually be the shoulder (fore quarter), tail, leg or neck.

A traditional Bolognese stew (sauce) made from mince meats is a dish that benefits from long cooking not to tenderise but to reduce and amalgamate flavours.

My favourite things to go with slow cooking: mashed potatoes, braised cabbage, cous cous, rice, polenta, pickled lemons, yoghurt, chopped fresh herbs and dried fruit.

The recipe this week is my lamb tagine with apricots we serve it with pine nut cous cous. Serves six.

You will need: a cast iron pot, or a something for the stove and oven. About a litre of good brown stock or stock cubes.

Happy New Year. Hope you all have a great and safe 2006.

* Ruth Hurren is head chef at Darcy's Restaurant, Hatfield Road, St Albans. For more information telephone 01727 730777.

Lamb tagine with apricots

Ingredients

1 kg lamb shoulder, cut into large dice; salt and pepper; 2 large onions, diced finely; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 chilli, chopped or however much you like; 1 knob of ginger, chopped; 1 pickled lemon; 1 cup dried apricots; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 pinch fennel seeds; 1tsp cumin; 1tsp paprika; tsp turmeric; 1 coriander; good olive oil or half butter; Veal stock, about a litre, or stock cubes but not too much; bunch fresh coriander mixed with 1 tub of European-style yogurt, lemon juice and seasoning.

Method

Mix all the dried spice with the lamb including salt and pepper.

Heat oil and butter and colour meat watching you don't burn the spice (burnt spice will mean a bitter finish). You don't need flour as your fruit is going to thicken the sauce.

Add onions, cook for one minute. Add garlic, cook for one minute. Add ginger and chilli, cook for one minute you need each flavour to cook. Add fruit and stock.

Bring it to the boil, cook for one hour but don't trust time as the meat needs to be tender, so try it.

Cook in the oven on 150c or on a very low jet. Allow the fat to settle if there is too much fat remove half but remember it is part of a tangine. I use kitchen towel and a spoon to remove fat.

Check the seasoning you may need to adjust the taste with some salt.

Serve it in flat bowls so you can scoop it up; add cous cous and yogurt.