Lamb Tagine

I don't think this isn't really a tagine recipe. It's more tagine style, or tagine lite. I don't even own a tagine.

Anyway. It's something rich and warm and filling after a very rainy day. And now the whole house smells like spices.


1.5 kg leg or shoulder lamb cut into 2.5cm pieces (I cheated and got diced lamb from the butcher's. Also, I only used 1 kg. It was still a LOT.)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
80ml olive oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 onions, thinly sliced
580ml beef stock (I cheated again and used store-bought stock)
zest of 1/4 preserved lemon, rinsed and sliced
425g canned chickpeas, drained
35g green olives (I omitted this. But I did add some leftover pumpkin I had in the fridge.)
3 tablespoons chopped coriander


Place the lamb in a non-metallic bowl. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the garlic, cumin, ginger, tumeric, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper and some salt. Mix well and marinate for an hour.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and brown the lamb in batches. Remove the lamb. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes, then add lamb back and add beef stock.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Add lemon zest, chickepeas, olives and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until meat is tender and sauce is thickened.

Serve in bowls with couscous and coriander.

Financiers with berries

I baked these for what I expected would be four or five friends dropping by for afternoon tea. In fact ten people showed up. I did the jazz hands of "oh noes!" and apologised for only having one type of cheese and cut the financiers in half and hastily washed some grapes and you know what? It all came good.

Oh, and since people kept asking, a financier is really just a fancy name for a friand.




150g (1.5 cups) almond meal
90g plain flour
240g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
280ml (about 8) egg whites
250g unsalted butter, melted
seasonal berries or other fruit


Preheat the oven to 190C. Lightly grease standard 1/2-cup 12-hole muffin tin with butter.

In large bowl, mix almond meal, flour, icing sugar, baking powder.

Add egg whites a little at a time and whisking well after each addition.

Pour in melted butter and whisk through until just combined.

Spoon mixture into muffin tins until they are almost full.

Gently place berries or fruit pieces on top of each financier.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

Cool on wire racks.

Makes 12.


From Bourke Street Bakery, by Paul Allam and David McGuinness