Moroccan Lamb Shank Tagine with Prunes, Preserved Lemon, and Green Olives
Lamb shanks braised low and slow with ginger, cinnamon, and cumin until they fall from the bone, finished with honey-glazed prunes, briny green olives, and bright preserved lemon. It's served over herbed cauliflower couscous with a cool mint yogurt, and scattered with toasted sesame and pistachios. Warming, fragrant, and deeply comforting.
Yield: Serves 4 · Active: 40 min · Total: 3½–4 hours (mostly hands-off braising) · Best in North America from fall through winter, braising season, when carrots are sweet and lemons are juiciest for preserving · Best eaten: early evening
About tagine: A tagine is both a slow-cooked North African stew and the cone-lidded clay pot it's traditionally cooked in. The tall lid traps steam and drips it back down over the food, keeping the meat moist. Lamb with prunes is one of Morocco's most beloved celebration dishes, often served at weddings and holidays. A heavy Dutch oven works beautifully if you don't have a tagine.
Ingredients
Lamb
4 grass-fed lamb shanks (about 1 lb each)
2 tsp Baja Gold sea salt
2 tbsp ghee or extra virgin olive oil
Spice blend
1½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger, plus 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon (or 1 cinnamon stick)
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Optional: A generous pinch of saffron threads, crumbled into 2 tbsp warm water
Braise
2 onions, finely chopped (or grated, the traditional way, so they melt into the sauce)
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups lamb or chicken bone broth
A small bundle of fresh cilantro and parsley, tied with string
Rind of 1 preserved lemon, rinsed and thinly sliced (plus more to serve)
4 carrots, cut into large chunks
1 cup green olives (like Picholine or cracked green olives)
Prunes
12–15 pitted prunes
½ cup of the braising liquid
1 tbsp raw honey (optional)
½ tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
Cauliflower couscous
1 large head cauliflower, riced
2 tbsp ghee
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
½ cup fresh parsley, mint, and cilantro, chopped
Zest of ½ lemon
Mint yogurt
1 cup thick sheep's or goat's milk yogurt
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 small garlic clove, grated
Squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt
Crunchy topping (choose one or two)
Toasted sesame seeds: the traditional garnish for lamb with prunes
Toasted pistachios, roughly chopped
Sprouted, blanched almonds, toasted until golden (see the note below)
To finish: fresh cilantro and parsley, extra preserved lemon, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Method
Season the lamb. Pat the shanks dry and rub them all over with the salt and spice blend (but not the saffron). For the deepest flavor, do this the night before and refrigerate uncovered.
Sear. Heat the oven to 325°F. Heat the ghee in a Dutch oven or flameproof tagine over medium-high heat and sear the shanks until deeply browned on all sides, about 8–10 minutes. Move them to a plate.
Build the base. Lower the heat to medium. Cook the onions 8–10 minutes until soft and golden, then add the garlic and fresh ginger for 1 minute.
Braise. Add the broth, saffron and its soaking water, herb bundle, and preserved lemon rind, scraping up the browned bits. Nestle the shanks back in; the liquid should come about halfway up. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and braise in the oven 2 hours.
Add the carrots and olives. Tuck the carrots around the shanks and braise 45–60 minutes more, until the lamb is falling off the bone and the carrots are tender. Add the olives for the last 20 minutes, so they warm through without turning too salty.
Glaze the prunes. While the lamb finishes, simmer the prunes with ½ cup of the braising liquid, the honey, and the cinnamon 10–15 minutes, until plump, glossy, and syrupy.
Make the mint yogurt. Stir everything together and chill.
Make the cauliflower couscous. Heat the ghee in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the cumin for 30 seconds, then the cauliflower and salt. Cook 5–6 minutes, until tender but still fluffy. Fold in the herbs and lemon zest.
Toast your topping. Toast the sesame seeds, pistachios, or almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring, until golden and fragrant: 2–3 minutes for sesame, 3–4 for pistachios, and 4–5 for almonds.
Finish the sauce. Lift out the shanks and remove the herb bundle. Skim the fat from the braising liquid, then simmer it uncovered 5–10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Taste and adjust the salt (the olives and preserved lemon are already salty).
Serve. Spoon the cauliflower couscous onto a platter, set the shanks on top with the carrots and olives, and spoon the sauce over everything. Arrange the glazed prunes around the lamb, and finish with your crunchy topping, fresh herbs, extra slivers of preserved lemon, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve the mint yogurt on the side.
A note on sprouted, blanched almonds: Sprouting begins to break down the almonds' phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors, and blanching removes their skins, which hold much of their tannins. Many people find them easier to digest. To make your own, soak organic, unpasteurized almonds in salted water for 12 hours. The skins will slip right off when you pinch them. Then dry them in a dehydrator or a very low oven (150°F or the lowest setting) until crisp. (U.S. almonds are pasteurized by law, and pasteurized almonds won't sprout, so start with unpasteurized almonds, like Terrasoul's organic Spanish almonds.)
Make ahead: Like most braises, this tagine is even better the next day. Refrigerate the lamb in its sauce overnight, lift off the solidified fat, and gently rewarm. Glaze the prunes and make the couscous fresh.
Storage: The tagine keeps up to 4 days refrigerated, or 3 months frozen. Mint yogurt keeps up to 3 days, and cauliflower couscous up to 3 days.
Make Your Own Preserved Lemons
Preserved lemons are a staple of Moroccan cooking: lemons cured in salt and their own juice until the rinds turn silky, tangy, and intensely aromatic. Winter, when lemons (especially Meyer lemons) are at their juiciest, is the perfect time to make them.
Scrub 5–6 organic lemons, then cut each into quarters from the top, stopping about ½ inch from the bottom so they stay attached. Pack the cut lemons generously with coarse sea salt (about 1 tbsp per lemon) and press them tightly into a clean quart jar, squishing them so their juice rises. Top up with fresh lemon juice until they're fully submerged, seal, and leave at room temperature for 3–4 weeks, shaking the jar every day or two, until the rinds are soft. Then refrigerate them for up to a year. To use, rinse off the salt and slice the rind (most recipes discard the pulp).
Nourishment Notes
Grass-fed lamb shanks — complete protein, heme iron, B12, zinc, selenium, and CLA. Long, slow braising melts their collagen-rich connective tissue into gelatin, bringing glycine and proline that support the gut lining and restful sleep.
Saffron — crocin and safranal, which have been studied for supporting mood.
Ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and turmeric — warming spices traditionally used to support digestion and circulation. Cinnamon's polyphenols help moderate blood sugar, and the black pepper and fat help you absorb turmeric's curcumin.
Prunes — fiber, potassium, vitamin K, and boron, a trace mineral that supports bone health. Prunes have been well studied for supporting bone density in postmenopausal women.
Preserved lemon — vitamin C and d-limonene from the rind, with a deep, savory flavor that comes from curing.
Green olives — monounsaturated fats, polyphenols, and vitamin E.
Carrots and cauliflower — beta-carotene, glucosinolates, choline, and fiber.
Sesame seeds — calcium, magnesium, copper, and sesame lignans.
Pistachios — vitamin B6, copper, and lutein.
Sheep's and goat's milk yogurt — protein, calcium, and live cultures, with mostly A2-type casein.
For your cycle: Lamb's heme iron (the body absorbs about 15–35% of heme iron, compared with roughly 2–20% of the iron in plants), zinc, and B12 make this especially restorative during the menstrual phase, and its warming spices and slow-cooked comfort suit the luteal phase too.
Sourcing
Lamb shanks — 100% grass-fed, from a local farm, White Oak Pastures, or US Wellness Meats
Preserved lemons — homemade from organic lemons, or store-bought ones made with just lemons, salt, and lemon juice
Green olives — naturally cured in brine, with no added preservatives or ferrous gluconate (a color stabilizer often added to black olives)
Prunes — organic, unsulfured, with no added potassium sorbate
Carrots, cauliflower, onions, garlic, ginger, and fresh herbs — organic, from a farmers' market
Bone broth — homemade from grass-fed lamb or pasture-raised chicken bones, or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)
Sheep's or goat's milk yogurt — organic, plain, and full-fat, from a local dairy, or Bellwether Farms sheep's milk yogurt
Sesame seeds — organic and unhulled
Pistachios — organic; Sicilian Bronte or California
Almonds (if using) — sprouted, blanched, and organic, made at home from unpasteurized almonds like Terrasoul's organic Spanish almonds, or a sprouted almond brand you trust
Raw honey (optional) — organic, local, and unfiltered
Spices (cumin, coriander, ginger, paprika, Ceylon cinnamon, turmeric, and black pepper) — organic and non-irradiated
Ghee — Ancient Organics, or homemade from organic grass-fed butter
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon or fleur de sel de Guérande for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall