Moroccan style tagine of vegetables

[Ishbel]

This is a really tasty vegetarian dish and is wonderful if left to mature for a couple of days. It can be frozen, if required. Serve with cous cous to soak up the juices.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 aubergine, cut into 4cm chunks
400g can chopped Italian tomatoes
2 tsp Harissa paste (or a bit more if you like it spicy!)
1 parsnip, cut into 2.5cm chunks
1 sweet potato, cut into 2.5cm chunks
150g pack semi dried pitted soft apricots

To garnish: 50g roasted almonds, roughly chopped
Good handful fresh flat-leaf parsley roughly chopped

In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the oil and gently cook the onion for 4-5 minutes, until starting to soften. Stir in the cinnamon and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the aubergine and cook for a further 5 minutes until it has started to soften.
Add the chopped tomatoes, 300ml boiling water and the harissa. Season, then stir in the parsnip, sweet potato and apricots. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender.

Garnish with the chopped almonds and parsley, I serve it with a lemon flavoured cous cous.

 

[mudbug]

Ishbel, so "tagine" does not necessarily mean that cone-shaped cooking vessel?

 

[Ishbel]

As far as I know - and I've viisited Morocco a number of times - a 'tagine' is a kind of stew - whether cooked in the conical dish or not! I struggled through a flight and customs with 2 tagines - and then found I could buy them just as cheaply at John Lewis's - one of our major department store chains!

(I serve this in one of the tagines I brough back!)

 

[Zereh]

Tangine is both the name of the dish you cook them in and the recipes themselves. It is basically a slowly simmered stew; usually they contain meat, vegetables and spices common to Northern African cooking (lemon, cumin, saffron, tumeric, garlic, etc.).

I've only eaten tangine in a restaurant, but I think it's time I give one a try. This one looks perfect (i.e. sans meat!).


Z

 

[Claire]

Hmmm. I have some leftover ratatouille in the freezer that I'd like to put a different twist on when I reaheat. Hubby particularly loves this spice combo, AND just made a batch of harissa! So maybe I'll just season it some more and serve over couscous. We like to eat vegetarian one or two nights a week, and this would really fill the bill.

 

[mish]

This is a really tasty vegetarian dish and is wonderful if left to mature for a couple of days. It can be frozen, if required. Serve with cous cous to soak up the juices.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 aubergine, cut into 4cm chunks
400g can chopped Italian tomatoes
2 tsp Harissa paste (or a bit more if you like it spicy!)
1 parsnip, cut into 2.5cm chunks
1 sweet potato, cut into 2.5cm chunks
150g pack semi dried pitted soft apricots

To garnish: 50g roasted almonds, roughly chopped
Good handful fresh flat-leaf parsley roughly chopped

In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the oil and gently cook the onion for 4-5 minutes, until starting to soften. Stir in the cinnamon and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the aubergine and cook for a further 5 minutes until it has started to soften.
Add the chopped tomatoes, 300ml boiling water and the harissa. Season, then stir in the parsnip, sweet potato and apricots. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender.

Garnish with the chopped almonds and parsley, I serve it with a lemon flavoured cous cous.

Ish, I must confess, the recipe has me puzzled on a few levels. Yes, I am familiar with the cooking vessel called tagine and also think I know recipes are called tagine...that part I'm clear on. I would like to know how to cook in a tagine, but that's another catagory.

Question - re letting it mature a few days? & then freezing couscous (the dish)? A pack of semi-dried pitted soft apricots - Puzzled. Do you have a recipe for the lemon flavored couscous, Ish? Do you feeze it all together? Wondering where the title of the recipe 'Tagine' comes in? The flavors sound good, but can't wrap my brain around this.

 

[Ishbel]

Ish, I must confess, the recipe has me puzzled on a few levels. Yes, I am familiar with the cooking vessel called tagine and also think I know recipes are called tagine...that part I'm clear on. I would like to know how to cook in a tagine, but that's another catagory.

Question - re letting it mature a few days? & then freezing couscous (the dish)? A pack of semi-dried pitted soft apricots - Puzzled. Do you have a recipe for the lemon flavored couscous, Ish? Do you feeze it all together? Wondering where the title of the recipe 'Tagine' comes in? The flavors sound good, but can't wrap my brain around this.

How to cook in a tagine? Prepare the dish... put it in the bottom, add the 'chimney' bit and put in the oven!!!

Maturing: leave to chill in the fridge for a couple of days... Have to confess, I've never frozen it, but a friend has done so, quite successfully. Just the dish, not the couscous.

A tagine can be the dish in which you serve/cook as well as a recipe. Don't you have semi-dried fruits? They are very succulent, and not too frizzled up and dried.

Lemon couscous? I just add some finely grated lemon zest to the dried couscous, before adding the water, and then a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice along with the boiling water.

 

[drome]

Harissa

What is harissa paste?

 

[Ishbel]

Harissa paste is a hot, chili based thick paste with herbs and spices, used in some African and middle-eastern countries.

 

[Claire]

My husband made harissa a few weeks ago because I wasn't happy with what I've been able to get locally. I guess what surprised me most was that for some reason I didn't connect harissa with a pepper paste eaten in many eastern european countries (in Slovenia in particular), just with more heat. It is a wonderful condiment. I did, by the way, turn my ratatouille into the dish described above with huge success (by the way, I, Roy, am also Claire). I'm a big one for taking something I've made to excess (always, always), and turning it into another dish entirely. After adding the tagine spices, I served the veggies over couscous with some harrisa on the side. It really was wonderful. And yes, I had frozen the ratatouille. The trick to freezing it, to me, is that you must peel the eggplant (aubergine), the skin gets very rubbery if you don't.