Lamb Olive Tagine

There was still a half pound of local, organic, grass-fed lamb from last year farmer market in my freezer, and since it is the season of fresh lamb soon again with Easter slowly approaching, I decided to cook it in a wonderful recipe by Nigella Lawson. A simple stew with onions, kalamata olives, capers, a good amount of good red wine and slowly cooked for 1 1/2 hours.

• 1/2 pound lamb shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 large sweet white onion, peeled, halved and cut into thin half moons
• 1 cup whole kalamata olives, drained (preserve 2 TB brine)
• 4 TB capers, drained (preserve 2 TB brine )
• 1 TB tomato paste
• 2 cups of cabernet
• 1/2 TB cumin
• salt, pepper to tasted

In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil, and brown the lamb cubes in batches so that each batch has enough bottom surface individually to brown the meat on all sides for a few minutes; add salt and pepper to each batch. Save the browned meat on a separate plate. Once oll the lamb is browned, add the onions, the kalamata and capers brine, and cook onions down for 3-4 minutes. Now, add the meat back in, the olives, kalamata, cumin, tomato paste and the red wine. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and cook covered on very low heat for about 1 1/2 hours until the lamb is extremely tender. Serve with couscous!