Lamb and vegetable Tajine with saffron

To keep the stones alive, you should soak them in a saline solution for 24 hours before the full moon and put them out to dry in the full moonlight. These stones have great power but we have to give them back their energy.
This is the great lesson of this last weekend and a wonderful Sunday lunch where so much was left unsaid but so much accomplished and even more understood. The menu, exotic as ever, was lamb tajine with couscous.

method:
– chop dried apricots and dates and put to soak in lime juice with some raisins
– fry onion in a little hot oil
– add chunks of lean lamb and brown, add ground cumin, coriander seeds and chilli pepper and fry for two minutes to incorporate all the ingredients
– place in a tajine (earthenware dish with a cone cover) with large chunks of parsnip or turnip, potato, some whole carrots, chopped fennel, whole garlic cloves, courgette….. in fact almost any vegetables will do
– add vegetable or meat stock to cover with a lot of saffron (stems dissolved in warm water or crushed) and salt
– cover with tajine cone and cook at low heat in the oven or on the stove for two hours
– fifteen minutes before serving add the dried fruit that has been soaking in the lime juice, mix well
– serve with couscous and fresh coriander