Our Supper night recipe for Moroccan lamb meatball tagine with pomegranate cous cous

Our Moroccan lamb meatball tagine went down a treat at last night's Middle Eastern Supper night. To kick off the evening, I demonstrated how to make the meatballs, and promised to share the recipe - so here it is for all to enjoy.

We jazzed our standard recipe up a little for the supper night, with some chopped pistachio's sprinkled on top of the cous cous before serving, and some fresh parsley finely chopped with the zest of a lemon. We also added in a few extra veggies to the tagine - you could use whatever you have in the fridge, but we added in some cubed aubergine, courgette and red peppers...if you do decide to add in the extra veggies, then throw them in a with the meatballs to cook before pouring over the sauce, plus add an additional 50ml of boiling water to your sauce to give the veggies time to soften.

Enjoy! and we hope to see you at our next supper night very soon. #watchthisspace

Ingredients

Meatballs (we also call them flavour bombs!):

2tspn fresh mint (finely chopped)

500g lean lamb mince

Small cup dried chopped apricots

3 preserved lemons (pips removed and finely chopped)

2 teaspoons Baharat spice

2 medium free range eggs

Tomato sauce:

400g pasata

200g coconut milk

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 teaspoon Baharat spice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Small pinch sea salt (to taste)

Pomegranate Couscous:

300g couscous

1 vegetable stock cube (we like Kallo as it’s lower in salt) – added to 500ml boiling water

3 spring onions (chopped in to small pieces)

1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)

The seeds from half a pomegranate

Ground black pepper to taste

- Serves 3 adults –

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220c

2. Start by making the meatballs. Add all of the prepared ingredients in to a bowl and squidge together with your hands so that everything is incorporated in to the mince and the spices are mixed through.

3. Make the meatballs to roughly the size of a ping pong ball.

4. Place the meatballs in a deep baking tray (or tagine) with a couple of centimetres space between each one, then place in the oven for 10 minutes.

5. Prepare the tomato sauce by adding all of the ingredients together in a mixing jug, and giving it a good stir.

6. Remove the meatballs from the oven, lower the oven temperature to 180c and pour all of the sauce around (not over!) the meatballs, then return to the oven for a further 15 minutes .

7. Prepare the couscous by placing it in to a bowl, pouring over the vegetable stock, and covering with cling film – leave for around 4/5 minutes, then remove the cling film and use a fork to fluff up the couscous.

8. Add in the chopped spring onions, parsley, pomegranate, and ground black pepper to taste to the couscous. Give it a good mix, and leave to one side until ready to serve.

9. Remove the meatballs from the oven, turn the meatballs to coat them in the sauce, then cover the dish with either the tagine lid or some foil, and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes (or until the meatballs have cooked through to the centre).

10. Remove the meatballs from the oven when they are ready, serve with the cous cous and some sauce poured over.