Recipe: Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

This is a dish I make on a regular basis. I happen to have an old, battered Moroccan clay Tagine to make this in but a regular saucepan with a close fitting lid will suffice. I love the marriage of the Moroccan-style spices with the preserved lemons and dried fruit. Serve this with either couscous or some good bread. Last time I made this I had some leftover Roast Chicken that I added about 5 minutes before serving to warm through. Delicious.

Note: You can buy preserved lemons in jars in most supermarkets.

Ingredients

1 medium Onion, halved and sliced finely
Root vegetables diced into 1cm cubes (carrot, parsnip, swede etc)

2 cloves of Garlic finely sliced
1-2 Preserved Lemons roughly chopped
1 Medium Tomato diced
Chicken Stock or Water
1/4 tspn black pepper
1/4 tspn nutmeg
1/2 tspn ginger (powder not fresh)
1/4 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn ground cinnamon
5-6 pieces of dried fruit (prunes or apricots or a mix of both)
A drizzle of honey
Salt to taste
1 tbspn Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

In a Tagine or Saucepan, heat the oil until medium hot and throw in the Onion, Root veg and Garlic and saute for approximately 5 minutes or until the Onion has softened well but not browned. Add the Tomato and the Preserved Lemon and leave to saute for a further 2 minutes. Add Chicken Stock or Water until the Vegetables are covered. Bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer. Add the spices, dried fruit and honey and season to taste with salt. Put a lid on the Tagine or Saucepan and leave to cook gently until the Root Veg are just cooked but still have a little bite.