MOROCCAN BEEF TAGINE

O love tagines soft meat, a lovely spicy gravy, chickpeas, a sweetness derived from fruit, and fluffy couscous to soak it all up. This one is one of Jamie Oliver's from his book Jamie Does. I used a different cut of meat to his which I think gives it more richness as the bone is still in. I also used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock, purely because I didn't have any vegetable stock. I also used sweet potato instead of pumpkin, which held it's shape even after 3 hours of cooking time. In the original recipe, you add the pumpkin after 1.5 hrs of cooking time. when I slow cook I like to forget about it after it's all in the pot so this suited me well.

INGREDIENTS

1 kg osso bucco beef shin
olive oil
1 onion diced
small bunch of coriander
1 tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 tin tomatoes
800 mls chicken stock
800 g diced sweet potato chunks
100 g prunes pipped

Spice Rub:
1 level tbs ras el hanout
salt and pepper
1 level tbs ground cumin
1 level tbs ground cinnamon
1 level tbs ground ginger
1 level tbs sweet paprika

Mix all the spice rub ingredients together and massage into the meat. Cover and refrigerate over night or a couple of hours minimum, this allows all the flavors to penetrate the meat.

The next day, pour some olive oil into heavy bottom frying pan, and fry meat with spice, until golden. remove from pan and add onion and chopped coriander stalks (reserving the leaves until after the tagine is cooked). When softened, add tomatoes, chickpeas, sweet potato, prunes and stock, bring to boil and add meat, reduce to simmer cook covered for 3 hours on a very low heat or until meat falls apart. When meat is cooked and the sauce looks too runny remove lid and increase heat so sauce thickens. Serve on top of couscous and sprinkle with coriander leaves.