* we've had an Emile Henry ceramic tagine - one of these -
for a couple of years, and while they are not cheap, I realised yesterday (when I finally got around to cooking in it - instead of my wife) that they are a real pleasure to use. It fries off like a nonstick surface, and I'm not sure why (very even heat conduction?) but there was very little heat sticking of stuff on the bottom even when it has been on the gas burner for 50 minutes without stirring. (I didn't really mean to not stir for that long, but anyway...)
The recipe for a Moroccan style lamb tagine worked out really well too, based on a Jamie Oliver version on a Tefal website. I adjusted a bit and record it here for my future reference:
About 400 - 500 g lamb shoulder diced
One teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cumin and coriander
One big onion - red, brown, I doubt it matters much (diced of course)
Couple of garlic cloves sliced
A fresh red chilli sliced
Tablespoon of honey
Can of tomatoes
Can of chick peas
About 30 g of dried apricots (it's only about 4 or 5 whole dried ones)
40 g of black olives
Vegetables - I used a carrot and a capsicum, both cut into big chunks, but his recipe used eggplant. Whatever. I think anything is going to work.
Italian parsley (I didn't have any, but Jamie's recipe involves some cooked in it, and some on top as garnish)
Method: lamb gets mixed with the spices and honey (and some salt and pepper), then fried off in some olive oil to brown in the tagine Add onion, chilli and other vegetables and cook off for another 10 or 15 mins or so. Add tomatoes, a tomato tin full of water, the chickpeas (including some of the liquid from it - I used perhaps half.) and tear up the apricots and throw them in, with the olives too. Check salt level and add a bit more (probably).
Simmer covered for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Served with couscous with roasted flaked almonds and some finely cut up dried apricot and lemon juice through it.
It was really nice. But then again, everything cooked in this thing seems to come out nice. Maybe tagines share the magical powers of wood serving platters, which make all food taste better. They just do, OK?
Update: out of curiosity, I had a look at a "products review" website for this brand of ceramic tagine, and found quite a few people complaining that it suddenly cracked and was thereby rendered useless. Hope ours doesn't suffer that fate.
* I've praised Mark Dapin as a magazine features writer before, and his article in Good Weekend on Saturday was particularly interesting. He meets up with an old university friend who has finally revealed his sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest/teacher as a teenager.
It's really remarkable, the way the stories of the life ruining effect of teenage sexual abuse are so often so similar: the subsequent drug or alcohol abuse, depression and relationship problems, etc. Mark's friend's explanation of the ambiguities of the emotions at the time adds another aspect I hadn't really realised - as a smart, sensitive teen, he actually liked being groomed, as it involved making him feel special and warranting the attention of someone intellectually sophisticated and part of the adult world. That makes sense, I guess, although not every abuse victim is groomed in exactly that way, of course. And it doesn't stop it from causing decades of later turmoil, perhaps with that irreconcilable ambiguity and conflict of emotions being the thing at the heart of why it is so often so psychologically damaging. I think it's an interestingly complicated issue, this matter of how exactly it is that such experiences have such long lasting, detrimental psychological effects, and I wonder if abuse victims might be particularly suited to the one of the schools of psychoanalytical "talking therapies".
* Watched Korean zombie movie Train to Busan on Saturday night. The zombies are definitely in the World War Z style of more-or-less instant conversion as soon as bitten, which is kinda silly even in the fictional universes where zombies exist, I reckon. But I got over that and enjoyed World War Z more than I expected, but enjoyed Train less than I expected. Too much traumatised child at the end; and one thing bothered me - modern trains don't go so dark inside when going through tunnels. That was a plot contrivance that was not realistic, if you ask me. (Yes, here I am, being pedantic over realism in an "instant zombie" movie.)
South Korean ways of living seem so, so similar to those in Japan don't they? I found it interesting from that point of view.
* I seem to have one eye ageing unusually rapidly - so much so that it already is developing a cataract, and quite quickly too. Will be booking in to see a specialist ASAP, as the hazing effect of the cataract is already noticeable and there is no point in getting new glasses until that is fixed. The optometrist asked if I had ever injured that eye, as the type of cataract at my age is more often from injury; but no, I don't recall ever getting punched in that eye, or any other injury. Just one of life's mysteries.
I've also learnt that looking at images of cataract surgery makes it look remarkably unpleasant, for something done so routinely (and in day surgery.)
2 comments:
Your tagine would improve noticeably if you also marinate the meat in Chermoula for a few hours before hand.
That may well be true - I saw that many recipes for a lamb or meat tagine of any kind involved marinating. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this relatively quickly prepared, un-marinated version tasted.
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