Tagine

[chickenfeet]

For a while now, lemur_catta has been asking me to make a vegetable tagine for the freezer. I've done pseudo Moroccan things with mediterranean veggies, chick peas and the usual spices but never been entirely happy with the result so I went looking for an authentic recipe. I found one via a Zimbabwean food blogger who claimed to have been taught the dish by a real Moroccan. The recipe looked weird enough to be authentic so I thought I'd give it a go.

Mariam’s Vegetable Tajine
Serves 6
2/3 cup* olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
10 small onions, cut in half from top to bottom, and sliced into fine rings
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1½ teaspoons sweet paprika
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
Water, as needed
2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch chunks (I use new potatoes and cut them into quarters)
Scant cup green olives
6 quarter-pieces preserved lemon, rinsed and patted dry
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. (If you are lucky enough to have a traditional tajine pot at your disposal, by all means – use it!) Add the garlic, tomatoes, onions, parsley, spices and salt, and stir. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. If the mixture begins sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a little water. Meanwhile, soak the potatoes in water.

When the fifteen minutes are up, drain the potatoes and add them to the pan. Pour in enough water to submerge the mixture and stir. Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Turn the heat down to medium-low, re-cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 40 minutes. Place the green olives and preserved lemons (skin-side up) on top of the mixture and recover the pot. Cook for another 8 minutes.
Serve in bowls accompanied by bread to sop up all the lemony-tomatoey juice. Warning: Only eat the preserved lemons if you are brave! In fact, you might want to remove them from the dish before serving to avoid any accidents.

The amount of onions looks way excessive, as does the amount of olive oil but don't be tempted to cut back. The dish works and it is delicious!

In other news, I'm still happily humming arias from Orfeo.

Comments

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

This looks tasty and very very weird.

The one time I tried making preserved lemons, they failed (they moulded). Can one actually buy them?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Can one actually buy them?

I imagine specialty middle east type stores would have them. maybe the deli type places at the St. L. I'll take a look. I made a batch that have been sitting in the fridge for a couple of years. They did very nicely.

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

Looks fantastic. You might also enjoy Farid Zadi's blog -- he is an Algerian chef and cookbook writer. I've used a number of his recipes and liked them very much.

[metalana.livejournal.com]

When I took cooking classes in Morocco, these were definitely common ingredients. I don't remember the spice quantities being so high, but go for it.

Have you found somewhere to buy preserved lemons in TOronto?

If you want a scan or photocopy of my moroccan recipes, let me know.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

If I can find preserved lemons, I might have a go at that when new potatoes are back in season - it looks very tasty.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I made it with old crop Yukon Golds. They were fine.