Lamb Stew with Almonds and Apricots

Following a from the NY Times the other day, I made a sweet lamb stew with honey, almonds, and apricots. The stew is a traditional lamb tagine called Mrouzia, prepared throughout North Africa during Ramadan.

I had several problems with the NY Times recipe, the first being that although the recipe calls for 3 lbs of lamb, if you look at the video instructions on the NY Times site, the chef is clearly using at least 4 lbs of lamb and is using 6 cups of stock to go with it. I used only 2 lbs of lamb, reduced the stock required by a third, and it still took way too long to reduce to the proper consistency.

The stew is also very sweet. Apparently a Mrouzia uses a lot of honey as a way to help preserve the meat in places without refrigeration. But, that’s not a problem here, and all that honey just makes it seem unbalanced.

Finally, I messed up and used regular whole raw almonds instead of blanched almonds (without skins). I don’t think it makes much of a difference, but every recipe I checked calls for blanched almonds.

The stew was actually terrific, especially after I balanced the sweetness a little with some fresh squeezed lemon juice. It is highly flavorful and very rich. What follows are the proportions of ingredients that I would use the next time I make this stew – less stock, a lot less honey and a little lemon to balance the sweetness.

Lamb Stew with Almonds and Apricots Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. lamb shoulder or neck, trimmed of fat and cut into 2 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 cup water

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 cups chicken stock or water
• 1 1/2 cups dried apricots, roughly chopped, or raisins
• 1 1/2 cups almonds, whole and blanched
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1-2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)
• 1 cup carrots, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

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