Tagine

I've owned a tagine for several years now; it was a gift from my family, who know I love to cook and am fascinated by all kinds of ethnic cookery styles.

Today, I got around to using it for the first time.  Before using it for the first time, you have to:

• convince yourself that it really *is* for cooking in, and not just ornamental
• remember that it came with a bunch of spices, so is probably oven-safe, at least
• soak it in cold water for an hour
• wipe dry and season the internal surfaces with olive oil
• put it in a cold oven, then turn the oven up to 350F.  Let it heat up and leave it there for an hour or two
• Remove it from the oven and let it cool

Fortunately, you only have to go through that rigmarole the once.

After all that, I managed to cook a respectable lamb tagine with pine nuts and dried apricots, and served it with couscous.  Chickpeas in the tagine would have been nice, but it turned out that I didn't, actually, have any.

Putting a terracotta vessel on a gas ring is... odd, to say the least.  Suffice it to say that I made sure the hob top was clean before starting, so that if it shattered, I'd still be able to salvage the food.

Comments

[The Dragon]

Oooh very nice too! I will confess that we just tend to use the casserole and make enough for two meals!

[Steph]

Mmm, looks and sounds great. I don't think I've ever seen one of those actually being used before!

[rosie]

You are one very brave lady (I wouldn't dare put a tagine on a hob or try out steeks). And the food looks yummy.

[Lynn]

Lovely! I made a lamb and quince tagine for Christmas dinner, but I just used a giant cast iron skillet. Maybe I need me a proper tagine like yours!