Goat tagine with toasted nut couscous

By: James Martin
From: More Home Comforts
Serves: 4
Photographer: Peter Cassidy

I first tasted goat in France, but it’s a staple meat in many countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It has a similar taste to mutton, and it’s delicious. Toasting the couscous in nut-brown butter enhances its natural flavour.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient

For the tagine

Quantity	Ingredient
2 teaspoons	ground cumin
1 teaspoon	ground turmeric
2 teaspoons	ras el hanout
1/2 teaspoon	saffron strands
4 tablespoons	vegetable oil
600g	goat shoulder, neck and leg meat, cut into large dice
1	onion, diced
2	garlic cloves, chopped
4cm	piece of ginger, unpeeled, finely grated
1	red chilli, chopped
1	cinnamon stick
400g	tin chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon	honey
125g	dried apricots, roughly chopped
1	medium preserved lemon, roughly chopped
	sea salt
	freshly ground black pepper
50g	pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons	roughly chopped mint leaves
3 tablespoons	roughly chopped coriander leaves
3 tablespoons	roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

For the couscous

Quantity	Ingredient
25g	unsalted butter
200g	couscous
50g	pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
50g	flaked toasted almonds
50g	toasted pine nuts
50g	dried apricots, roughly chopped
1	preserved lemon, finely chopped
3 tablespoons	roughly chopped mint leaves
3 tablespoons	roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
1	lemon, juiced

Method

To make the tagine, put the cumin, turmeric, ras el hanout and saffron into a bowl with 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and mix well. Add the goat and toss to combine, then set aside.
Heat a large casserole dish until hot. Add the rest of the vegetable oil, the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, and fry for 2–3 minutes until just softening. Add the meat and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ginger, cinnamon stick, tinned tomatoes and honey, and mix well. Add 200ml of water and bring to the boil, then stir in the apricots and preserved lemon. Lower the heat and simmer for 45–60 minutes until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.
Check the seasoning, then stir in the chopped pistachios, mint, coriander and parsley.
To make the couscous, heat a frying pan until hot. Add the butter and when it’s foaming, add the couscous and stir-fry until golden all over. Add 400ml of just-boiled water, mix well, then remove from the heat, cover with clingfilm and set aside to steam for 5 minutes.
Remove the clingfilm, stir with a fork to loosen the grains, then cover once more and leave for another 5 minutes. Stir in the nuts, apricots, preserved lemon, herbs and lemon juice and season well with salt and pepper.
To serve, pile the couscous into one serving bowl and ladle the tagine into another.