Description
This dish is a speciality of Marrakech and a favourite during Ramadan, when there can be more than a hundred of these pots steaming away silently in the dusty heat of the furnace.
Ingredients
For the spice paste
1 large preserved lemon, washed, flesh discarded, rind roughly chopped
1½ large onions, sliced
1 tbsp cumin seeds, roughly ground
2 small heads garlic, cloves halved
3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
For the meat
6 whole lamb shanks, or 1 shoulder of lamb on the bone, about 1.8kg/4lb, trimmed and sawn into 6 pieces (ask your butcher to do this for you)
75g/3oz butter
150ml/5fl oz water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
mixed herb salad and flatbread, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8.
2. To make the spice paste, blend the preserved lemon, onion, cumin, garlic and coriander in a food processor.
3. For the meat, place the meat, spice paste, butter and water in a heavy-bottomed medium-sized saucepan and mix together thoroughly. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Cover the top of the meat with baking parchment, then cover the top of the saucepan with kitchen foil, then put on a tight-fitting lid.
5. Place in the hot oven and immediately turn the heat down to 140C/275F/Gas 1. Cook for 5-6 hours.
6. Remove and check for seasoning. The meat should be falling off the bone. Serve with a mixed herb salad and some flatbread.
