Moroccan meatball tagine with lemon & olives

Moroccan meatball tagine with lemon & olives

4.592595

(27 ratings)

By

Cooking time

Prep: 25 mins Cook: 40 mins

Skill level

Easy

Servings

Serves 4

A wonderfully aromatic North African lamb casserole with a citrus tang - great for dinner parties

Nutrition and extra info

Additional info

  • Freezable
Nutrition info

Nutrition per serving

kcalories
394
protein
31g
carbs
11g
fat
26g
saturates
9g
fibre
3g
sugar
8g
salt
1.7g

Ingredients

  • 3 onions, peeled
  • 500g minced lamb
  • zest and juice 1 unwaxed lemon, quartered
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and grated
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • pinch saffron strands
  • 250ml lamb stock
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 100g pitted black kalamata olives
  • small bunch coriander, chopped
  • couscous or fresh crusty bread, to serve

Buy Ingredients

Buy the ingredients for this recipe now via:

Want to know how this works? Read all about it here.

Method

  1. Put the onions in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Put the lamb, lemon zest, spices, parsley and half the onions in a large bowl, and season. Using your hands, mix until well combined, then shape into walnut-sized balls.
  2. Heat the oil in a large flameproof dish, or tagine with a lid, then add the remaining onions, ginger, chilli and saffron. Cook for 5 mins until the onion is softened and starting to colour. Add the lemon juice, stock, tomato purée and olives, then bring to the boil. Add the meatballs, one at a time, then reduce the heat, cover with the lid and cook for 20 mins, turning the meatballs a couple of times.
  3. Remove lid, then add the coriander and lemon wedges, tucking them in between the meatballs. Cook, uncovered, for a further 10 mins until the liquid has reduced and thickened slightly. Serve hot with couscous or fresh crusty bread.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, February 2012

Comments, questions and tips

Sign in or create your My Good Food account to join the discussion.

Comments

Show comments
laugh_producer's picture
4

Very tasty sauce, I think I may have under seasoned the meatballs though as they were a bit bland. I'll add more spice and salt to the mix next time and I think they'll be perfect.

richardberkley's picture
4

Fabulous dish...my daughter who "doesnt like lamb" enjoyed it and we all felt it tasted like something you had put a lot of time and effort in to...yet it didnt take that long
Will be using this recipe again...thanks

amanda_parker7's picture
5

REALLY tasty!! Thought initially this might be too hot, but the flavours were really good. Great for low calories too. Cooked without the olives as we dont like them. Will make this again very soon!

nasroweb's picture

Incredible! Made from beef I do not like lamb, do not add coriander - I forgot to buy! Garlic (with onions base) and pine nuts added. Also, I do not have a casserole cooked on the common adhesive frying pan, was still quite satisfactory result!
Dont forget to visit my moroccan food blog at: http://morocco-recipes.com

linnieevans's picture

Not clear if this is made on the hob or in the oven. Assumed it was the oven but then I found some internet sites which say there are 2 types of ceramic tagine dish, one can go in oven. other on the hob! Anyone advise please?

emmagifford's picture
4

Very good, agree a little too lemony so had to add more tom puree near the end. Great tasting meatballs, it made loads so only cooked half and froze the rest to have with pasta later in the week. Cooked in a tagline in the oven and just stirred in some wild & white basmati for an extra 20 mins cooking time, worked perfectly.

hjdale1982's picture
5

I thought this recipe was absolutely delicious and perfectly lemony without the wedges. Made enough to serve 4 for my boyfriend and I with the intention of freezing the rest for another day but just couldn't resist a second portion! Will definitely make again.

crissyd333's picture
5

Loved it! I made with pasta as my husband doesn't like cous cous, and I reduced the amount of olives to 70grams as I thought it may have been a bit too much. Will be making it again!

cherrygogog's picture
5

Very yummy. Made this for a dinner party. Didn't have saffron so used tumeric to add the color. Also just finely chopped the onion rather than using a blender. Only used 1 big onion for 750g of minced lamb and 1 onion for frying though and i thought that was plenty. Also left out the lemon wedges at the end as suggested by the others. It was already pretty lemony!

rainbowrosebuds's picture
5

a really easy to make, delicious meal. i left out coriander and saffron and was still tasty.served with crusty bread and harissa couscous. my only criticism is that there wasn't enough sauce!

krzysztof2357's picture
5

This is brilliant dish. Made it together with Moroccan spiced cauliflower almond soup as a starter and Moroccan aubergine chickpea salad, served with pita bread reheated in oven, together created real Moroccan experience. Didn't altered recipe except adding one tbsp of honey to balance lemon and tomatoes acidity and adjusting spice proportions (cooking is art not science you need to taste and experiment) . Highly recommend.

dixie123's picture
5

Yummy, didn't add all the lemon as I put some in the cous cous and added apricots and sultanas to the cous cous. I added some crushed garlic to the lamb mix and also the tagine. Made it the day before and re heated was perfect. I also substituted the saffron for turmeric very yummy and a new favourite with everyone.

akd2323's picture

Totally delicious!
Easy to make with bags of flavour - don't necessarily need the lemon wedges in though.
And with cous cous alongside as suggested - perfect.

ejc1979's picture

Lovely tasty dinner, but again a goodfood recipe with no vegetables in it? So many recipes with no veg content.

Serve with a salad?

cappuccinomonkey's picture
3

Was very easy to make but it was fairly hot and left and overwhelmingly bitter aftertaste. Would be better without the lemon wedges going in at the 10 minutes to go mark and too hot for typical Moroccan food.

traceyal's picture
5

Totally delicious, this recipe is a must! In fact I can honestly say that it's one of my favourite recipes ever. Easy to make, I didn't alter anything and it tasted fab. I'm not much of an olive fan but they tasted lovely. Great for a family meal or for a special dinner. I served it with brown rice. yum

wooflett's picture
5

I think this is an excellent recipe, and like others here I was surprised at just how good it was. Well worth making. I didn't use as much lemon as suggested, just half that amount, but everything else was just as per the recipe.

This would also make a great dinner party dish as it appears more complex than it actually is!

Pages

Questions

Tips