Lamb Tagine

So I was watching a episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.
He was eating his way through North Africa…
The next day, I started craving lamb with fruit and sweet spices, slow cooked in a clay pot.
It’s a bit like barbeque in that, the more you visualize the slow cooking process,the smells, the anticipation, the more your mouth waters.
My apologies to you vegetarians….
I bought a leg of lamb, some dried apricots, raisins, sliced almonds,onions, and italian parsley.
I cubed and browned the lamb.
Threw the whole mess together with fresh nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, salt, pepper, and a bit of honey.
I let it cook for a couple of hours and this is what it looked like….



It was very good, it probably smelled better than it tasted, and tasted better than it looks in this picture!
Of course it was even better the next day!
Here is my theory as to why that is…
I think that while you are cooking meats, the moisture is always leaving them (drying out).
When you allow them to start cooling in liquid, the meat reconstitutes some of it’s moisture by reclaiming it from the spicy pot juices. Reverse osmosis?
That is why many slow cooked stewy dishes are better on day two. (IMHO)
Oh… of course this dish is eaten over a bed of couscous!