Meat & Chicken

Lamb Shank Tagine

Serves 5

Ingredients
2 kgs Lamb shanks (approx. 400 g each)
1 tablespoon Ras-el-Hanout (Available in Middle-Eastern delis)
½ tablespoon salt
½ cup plain flour
Olive oil for frying

Sauce
1 medium size sliced onion
½ cup olive oil
200g diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ tablespoon Ras-el-Hanout
½ tablespoon cracked black pepper
½ tablespoon sumac (Available in Middle-Eastern delis)
½ tablespoon ground coriander
1 dried Persian lemon crushed (Available in Middle-Eastern delis)
50mls pomegranate molasses
2 cloves garlic (finely grated)
50mls honey
Water

Garnish
Rough chopped parsley
Yoghurt
Chopped dried fruit
Toasted pine nuts

Method

1.    Mix flour. Ras-el-Hanout spice and salt together thoroughly. Flour shanks, reserving remaining flour mixture for sauce. Heat oil in frying pan. Brown shanks on high heat on all sides and bottom. Store shanks for later.

2.    Heat olive oil and fry sliced onion until golden. Add remaining flour mixture from shanks and fry for few minutes to create a roux-like mixture. Add all sauce ingredients (apart from honey) together in a slow cooker. Add shanks and enough water to almost cover. Stir gently to combine. Bring to boil on highest level of cooker and then cook on medium heat for 6-8 hours (at Taboon we do this overnight in our stone oven!). Remove shanks from sauce, add honey and check for seasoning.

3.    Serve individually on rice or couscous with a generous amount of sauce. Top with a spoon of yoghurt and garnish with parsley, dried fruit, pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Olives & Lemons

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 Chicken Marylands (skin on)
2 Chicken Breasts (skin & wing left on)

Marinade Ingredients
1 Bunch coriander with roots left on
1 Cup picked parsley
1 Persian Dried lemon (or 2 dessert spoons lemon zest)
2 cloves garlic
1 dessert spoon Turmeric
1/2 cup olive oil
1 small onion
1 teaspoon dried chilli 
50g Copped peeled Ginger

Soak Persian lemon in a small amount of boiling water until soft (if using) & reserve soaking liquid until later. Wash herbs well paying attention to roots of coriander.  Peel & roughly chop onion. Add all ingredients to blender & process to a runny paste using soaking liquid of lemons or added water to reach desired consistency.

 Method
(This method has been adapted assuming the majority of people do not have a Tagine)

Make marinade and thoroughly rub over chicken pieces. Pour all remaining marinade over chicken & cover & store in refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours (can be marinated for up to 3 days) before cooking.  Make serving sauce (below).
Roast chicken pieces in oven on a high heat for 15 min until golden brown and approximately half cooked. Remove chicken from oven and transfer to pot of sauce.
Bring to the boil & cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for a further 20 minutes or until cooked through (depending on size of chicken pieces)

Serve on a decorative platter with cous cous or rice and garnish with yoghurt, olives, cured lemons & toasted pine nuts.

Sauce
50 ml vegetable oil
3 medium tomatoes
1 large onion
1 litre chicken stock
1 teaspoon Turmeric
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
50ml lemon juice
10 seeded green olives (split)
10 seeded kalamata olives (split)
Salt to taste 

Peel & roughly chop onion into a large dice. In a medium sized pot sauté onions in vegetable oil for 5 minutes without browning. Add Turmeric and cook for 3-5 minutes more over a low heat being careful not to brown. Core tomatoes & roughly chop into a large dice. Add to pot with all other ingredients except for the olives. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Check flavour and adjust with salt, lemon juice or chilli as required. Add olives once completed. The final product should be a light, colourful broth with a spicy tangy flavour.

Dukkah Chicken

Serves 8

Ingredients
2kg chicken thigh fillets

Marinade ingredients
3/4 tablespoon ground cumin
3/4 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
1/4 tablespoon tumeric
1/2 dessert spoon minced garlic
1/4 tablespoon cracked pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Garnish
50g Dukkah
50ml Pomegranate Mollasses
30 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper to taste

Method
Trim chicken of excess fat and cut into skewer size pieces (about the size of a 50
cent piece). Place in mixing bowl and add all marinade ingredients mixing
thoroughly. Skewer 8 servings of 125g each taking care to keep chicken pieces
flat & not overlapping on skewer – this will help the grilling process.
Skewers can be cooked on a high heat on a BBQ, griddle pan or under a grill.
They should be brown, cooked through but still tender.
To serve season with salt & pepper, drizzle with pomegranate molasses and
olive oil and then sprinkle liberally with Dukkah. Serve on top of vegetable
couscous with a side if salad/tabouleh