Tajine is one of the most versatile dishes of Moroccan cuisine. With variations as numerous as the number of people that cook it, this dish is generous, tasty and a symbole of sharing and hospitality. This salty variation will surprise with its depth and its personality, the aniseed-flavored taste of the fennel, although lightened by the cooking process, answering majestically to the lemon confit’s bitterness and to the salty and fresh taste of the olives. Note that this recipe calls for the use of a pressure cooker, which greatly lowers the cooking time.
List of ingredients for 4 people
- 600g veal osso bucco
- 3-4 fennel bulbs
- 3-4 medium sized lemon confits
- two dozens purple Meski olives
- one big onion
- one tomato
- 20g of freshly grinded ginger
- 1-2 tbs fennel seeds
- 2 ts tumeric powder
- 1 ts ginger powder
- a few saffron pistils
- some boiling water
- salt, pepper
- water, vinegar (white, cider)
Before we begin (15 minutes)
Clean the fennels, remove the base, shorten its stalk a bit and remove the foliage, as well as the first layer of the fennel if it is yellow or damaged. Cut them in 4 from top to bottom and leave it to rest in a water mixed with some vinegar for at least 15 minutes.
Dice the onion coarsely, put it to one side. Peel the tomato, dice it, put to one side. Grate the ginger, put to one side. Cut the lemon confits in halves, deseed, then mince a half and cut the others in 4, put to one side. Put the olives in a bowl. In a cup half-filled with boiling water, put the saffron pistils, mix, put to one side. Take out the fennel seeds, tumeric powder, ginger powder, salt and pepper.
Cooking (about 35 minutes, without considering the time to get the pressure cooker presurized)
Put your pressure cooker on a medium to high fire, without its lid. Check with your hand over it that it is hot enough, and once it is, add a good amount of oil, and, a few dozen seconds later, the fennel seeds, turmeric powder, ginger powder, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Stir it for about 20 to 30 seconds so that you release the spices’ flavour.
Add the meat, let it simmer for a while so that it colors on all its faces. Once it is almost done, add the onions and let them color a bit as well. When all is ready, add the fresh ginger, the saffron and its water and stir a bit. Then, add the tomato and make sure that it is on top of the meat and the onions, so that it does not touch the bottom of the pot and burn. Close the pressure cooker.
Put the pressure cooker under high pressure and let it cook for 15 minutes. Once the time is over, quickly let the steam out and open the pressure cooker. Add the lemons confit and the fennels, stir, close the pressure cooker. Note that you should not need to add more water, as the vegetables will release a lot of water. The secret of a good tajine is within its sauce, which should be thick and smooth. That is made possible the amount of grease released by the meat, the onions melting and the tomato we added.
Put the pressure cooker under high pressure for 10 more minutes. Then, quickly let the steam out and open the pressure cooker. If the sauce is too thin, you will want to let some water evaporate, so that you get a thicker sauce. To do so, gently take the meat and vegetables out of the pot into a big bowl and put the pot back, open, on low heat, until it has the good consistency.
When you are happy with the sauce, add the olives and put the vegetable and the meat back if you had previously removed them. Let it cook at low heat for a dozen minutes. Serve with round moroccan bred, in a single big dish and without silverware to eat it in the traditional way.
Nota bene: tajine is one of those dishes that are even better the day after you made it, as the flavours continue to develop and to get more complex in the fridge, and the sauce gets naturally thicker because of water evaporating. Do not hesitate to make big batches so that you can have it for multiple meals – just add a tiny bit of water when reheating the dish!
This post is also available in: French
