Diced mutton is available from our extras list - and features in our winter warmer box this fortnight - it is a full flavoured meat much revered in North Africa. You could make the same tagine with lamb but it’s time we gave some recipes for those items that don’t always make it into a meatbox.

Ingredients - serves 4-6 800g diced mutton 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed & chopped 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp saffron strands 1 tsp ground turmeric 1 cinnamon stick 1 small red chilli, thinly sliced 300ml lamb or chicken stock 2 tbsp ground almonds 75g dried apricots 75g dried prunes 1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed 1 sweet potato, peeled & diced 50g almond slivers juice of 1 lemon salt, pepper couscous + olive oil

Method

1 Heat the oil in a casserole and cook the chopped onions, saffron threads and garlic over a gentle heat for 5 minutes. Turn the heat up and add the diced mutton - brown it all over - then add ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, turmeric, and very thinly sliced chilli together with some salt, fry a further couple of minutes before pouring in the stock. Bring to simmering point then cover and cook gently for 1½ hours.

2 By now the mutton is already tender and the aromas of the stew are mouth-wateringly good. Remove the lid and fold in the diced sweet potato, dried apricots, prunes and ground almonds (this will thicken the sauce), cover and cook a further 15 minutes then fold in the chickpeas, simmer for a further 5 minutes then add lemon juice and adjust seasoning if necessary.

3 Ten minutes before the end of cooking time, dry roast the almond slivers in a frying pan for a couple of minutes to golden, set aside. Heat 750ml of water to boiling, pour in 375g instant couscous and cook gently for 1 minute, cover and leave to stand for a further 4 minutes then add olive oil, chopped coriander - or mint - plus some seasoning to taste.

4 Serve fragrant mutton tagine over couscous in warmed bowls and scatter with toasted almond slivers.