Lamb Shank Tagine with Couscous

Hoyts Saffron

Saffron, the most expensive spice on earth. I've only had food with saffron once, it was a dinner gathering and one of my 'worldly' friends cooked a delicious seafood paella with saffron. I really enjoyed the paella and had seconds, but I didn't remember what saffron tasted like. I didn't think about saffron again until I watched BBC's The Spice Trail: Vanilla and Saffron on SBS the other day. Kate Humble, the TV host, went to the origin of the spice, Morocco, had a number of what seems like mind blowing saffron infused food and she successfully awoke my curiosity about the taste of saffron.

Days after I watched the show, I went to Coles and decided to cook Moroccan lamb tagine with saffron. I'm not a big fan of Middle-eastern food so I chose the simplest recipe I found on the Internet with no sweet fruit addition. I bought the Hoyts Safffron from the SuperMarket which costs me $16 for about fifteen strands. 

Chefs on tv always say, use a "pinch" of saffron when cooking a dish for six people. I honestly didn't understand what they meant by a "pinch" so in my experiment I used two strands for the tagine, and one strand for the couscous. When I opened the small jar, and had a sniff, I smelled... preservatives like scent. When I soak the strands in water, the smell didn't change. I'm wondering if it is because of the way the saffron was processed... but this cooking experiment unfortunately didn't make me fall in love with saffron, nor did it show me what saffron taste like.

The result? To be honest I thought the lamb tagine tastes more like a normal tomato based lamb stew. The meat on the lamb shank fell of the bone, the balance of taste was right, but this is not one of my favourite dishes. I've satisfied my goal to cook a tagine, and I've used saffron for the first time in my life. I will continue my self journey in appreciating saffron by perhaps trying to cook other dishes like paella in the future. If you are a big fan of couscous and tagines, this recipe is for you to try.

Ingredients

Two lamb shanks
A can of tomatoes
A can of chick peas
One large red onion - diced

Two strands of saffron - crush the strands

Two table spoon of Moroccan spices

Two cubes of beef stock - dissolve in hot water
Salt for seasoning

Olive Oil

For the couscous
Instant couscous
One large red onion - finely diced
Two tomatoes - diced
Chopped parsley

Two table spoon of Moroccan spices
One strand of saffron - crush the strand
Salt for seasoning

Olive Oil 

Cooking method

For the Lamb Shank Tagine

Heat oven to 180 celcius. Heat a casserole pan on the stove, splash some olive oil and cook the lamb shanks until browned all over, set aside. In the same pan, heat a big splash of olive oil, cook the diced red onion and the Moroccan spices until the red onion become soft and the spices fragrant. Add the lamb shanks and canned tomatoes.  Add beef stock, stir thoroughly. Bring to boil.

Cover with the lid, put into the hot oven and bake for one hour and 30 minutes. While waiting of the lamb to cook, you can start preparing the couscous.

After an hour and 30 minutes, take out the tagine, add in the chickpeas and saffron. Stir well. Put back into the oven and bake for another 30 minutes. The lamb shanks should be falling off the bone, if the shanks haven't reached this stage yet, put back into the oven and bake for another 30 minutes. Taste the tagine and add seasoning as you wish.

For the Couscous

Cook couscous following the instruction on the packaging. When cooked, set aside. 

Heat a splash of olive oil on the pan, cook red onion, add the Moroccan spices and the saffron, cook until the onion is soft and the spices fragrant. Add the fresh tomatoes and parsley. When tomatoes are slightly cooked, add the cooked couscous and stir well. Add more seasoning as required.

Serve tagine with couscous.