Three Slow Cookers: Jono does Jamie's Beef Tagine

This is an original Jamie Oliver recipe that was given to me by a friend. It is designed for a tagine but it can work just as well in a slow cooker. I also think that a saucepan will still give you similar results but it will require more monitoring and temperature control. The number of spices listed on the recipe could be a turn off for those of you that don’t want to go through the process of bashing them up. But it takes no time at all and the resulting flavour is definitely worth it! A pestal and mortar is the best tool for mixing and crushing spices. If you don’t have one, wrapping all the spices in glad wrap and bashing them with a wooden spoon will do the job. It is also worthwhile rubbing the meat in the spice rub and leaving it to marinate in the fridge the night before cooking.

Ingredients- Serves 4-6

600g casserole beef

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 bunch of coriander

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

800ml vegetable stock

1 small squash, deseeded and chopped

100g apricots

2 tablespoons flaked almond, toasted

Spice rub

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon ras el hanout spice mix*

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

* Ras el hanout spice mix which translates as “Head of the Shop” is simply a mix of spices and herbs that originated out of the Meghribi villages of North Africa. The specific quantities and spices varied from shop to shop depending on what the owner decided to mix. Below is a simple mix that you can do at home. I simply piled them all into the pestal and mortar and mixed them with the spice rub.

1 ½ tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp cardamon seeds

¼ tsp hot paprika

4 whole cloves

¼ tsp ground tumeric

¼ tsp sea salt

¼ tsp ground allspice

Method

Mix all the spice rub ingredients in a pestal and mortar. Put the beef in a large bowl and massage it with the spice rub, cover it with glad wrap and leave in the fridge overnight or at least a couple of hours. This will add a beautiful flavour to the meat.

When you are ready to cook, heat some olive oil (and be generous) in a fry pan and fry the meat on medium setting for 5 mins. Add the chopped onion and coriander stalks and fry for another 5 mins. Tip in the chickpeas and tomatoes, then pour 400ml of stock and stir. Bring to the boil, then place all ingredients in the slow cooker and sit it on the low setting for 1 ½ hours.

At the 1 ½ hour mark, add the squash, the apricots and the rest of the stock. Give everything a stir then put the lid back on and continue cooking on slow for another 1 ½ hours. At the end of this time, take the lid off and if it is too runny, leave it off and let it simmer for 5- 10 minutes.

Serve with coriander leaves, almonds and seasoned couscous. I also like to serve this with some cucumber and Greek yoghurt.