Martha's Lamb and Squash Tagine

This luscious lamb stew with butternut squash, cinnamon, and prunes makes a cozy cold-weather meal.

Servings:

4

A tagine is both a dish and the food that is cooked in it. Tagines are popular across North Africa and Martha based this easy lamb tagine with butternut squash on dishes served in Morocco. Her lamb tagine uses boneless lamb shoulder, cut into cubes, plus onion, garlic, and tomato paste. There’s no stock added as the lamb flavors the cooking liquid. Cinnamon is the only spice, bringing its sweet, fragrant aroma and flavor to this meaty dish.

The tagine is transferred to the oven to cook. Cubes of butternut squash are added when the meat is almost tender, and pitted prunes stirred in right before serving. The combination of sweet spices and dried fruits with lamb is just one of the delicious aspects of tagine cooking. Martha serves the tagine with steamed couscous.

TIP

If you don't have a tagine to cook the dish in, use a Dutch oven.

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless lamb shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• Coarse salt and ground pepper

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 cinnamon sticks

• 2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks

• ½ cup pitted prunes

• ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, for serving

• 1 cup whole-wheat couscous, cooked, for serving (about 2 ½ cups)

Directions

1. Preheat oven; brown lamb:

   Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, toss lamb with flour; season with salt and pepper. In a 2-quart enameled cast-iron tagine or a Dutch oven (at least 5 quarts), heat oil over medium-high. Cook lamb until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes; transfer to a plate.

2. Add onion, garlic, and tomato paste:

   Reduce heat to medium; add onion, garlic, and tomato paste to pot; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion has softened, 6 minutes.

3. Add cinnamon sticks, water, and lamb:

   Add cinnamon sticks, 4 cups water, and reserved lamb (with any juices that have accumulated); bring to a boil.

4. Cover and cook in oven:

   Cover pot and transfer to oven; cook until lamb is just tender, about 1 hour.

5. Add squash and cook:

   Add squash, return to oven, and cook until squash is tender, about 30 minutes more

6. Remove cinnamon, add prunes, and serve:

   Remove cinnamon sticks, stir in prunes, and season with salt and pepper. Serve with cilantro and couscous..