-
1
Place the lamb shoulder pieces in the base of a tagine or heavy-lidded casserole. Add the sliced onions, saffron with its soaking water, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and ras el hanout. Season with salt. Add enough water to come one-third of the way up the meat. Set over a medium-low heat, cover, and bring to a gentle simmer. The smell of the spices blooming in the steam signals the braise has begun correctly.
-
2
Braise, covered, over a low heat, turning the lamb occasionally, until the meat is beginning to fall from the bone and yields without resistance when pressed. This is where the dish lives or dies: the collagen from the bone must have fully converted to gelatin, giving the sauce its coating body — a thin, pourable liquid means the reduction is incomplete and the braise must continue, uncovered if necessary, until the sauce clings to the meat.
-
3
Add the whole dried apricots to the pot in the last 30 minutes of cooking. They should plump and take on a slight sheen from the sauce without dissolving. After 30 minutes they will have absorbed the braising liquid and colour visibly — they remain whole and distinct against the dark sauce.
-
4
Remove the pot from the heat, or reduce to the barest possible flame. Stir in the honey. The volatile aromatic compounds of the honey are destroyed by extended heat; added at this point, the floral complexity remains intact. Taste: the sauce should be distinctly sweet-savoury, with no single note dominant.
-
5
Melt the butter in a small pan over a medium heat. Add the blanched almonds with a pinch of salt and toast, stirring, until the almonds are golden and the butter smells of hazelnuts — the Maillard reaction in the butter produces a deeper nuttiness than oil or dry toasting. Scatter the almonds over the finished tagine and serve immediately.