I love the weekends, who doesn't!? Saturdays are usually a day of solitude for me. I put the Nina Simone station on pandora .... Dance around the kitchen with KiKi, cook, bake, take pictures. I couldn't ask more from life.
This morning I made my usual trip to the Farmers Market. I already had an idea of what I wanted to make. Mark and I were just given a beautifully hand painted tagine from our friends Corey and Bryan, as a wedding present. I have always wanted a tagine and could not wait to use it. It was a cold, windy morning. I walked around, waiting for inspiration to hit. It did not take long (thankfully). Sweet potatoes, butternut squash and rye sourdough bread called my name. I drove home, full of excitement.
If you are not familiar with a tagine, let me introduce you. The tagine is a moroccan pot made of clay which is sometimes painted and glazed. It has two parts. The base, which is flat and circular with low sides and the top which is cone shaped. Tagines are usually used to make savory meat dishes, however vegetarians can use them to make vegetable stews. Due to the cone shape lid, all of the condensation that builds up while cooking, drips back down into the dish. This leaves you with incredibly tender vegetables that have been slowly cooked in their own vapors. Delicious!
WARM VEGETABLE TAGINE / Serves 4
4 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
1 onion, chopped in large pieces
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. go cho jang (optional)
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper
1 lemon, juice
1 can chopped tomatoes
a few pinches of sea salt
1 zucchini, cut in large pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut in large pieces
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut in large pieces
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into large pieces
Preheat oven to 300*F
In a pot heat olive oil over medium heat
Add in the onions and cook until tender and translucent
Add in the garlic, ginger, salt, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper. Stir around.
Mix in the tomatoes, lemon juice, honey and go cho jang sauce.
Let simmer on low heat while you chop up the vegetables.
Transfer the tomato sauce to the tagine. Add in the chopped vegetables.
Stir the vegetables around so that they are all coated with the tomato sauce.
Place the lid on the tagine, put in the oven and cook for about an hour.
It is ready when the vegetables are tender and a knife can be inserted easily.
Tip: Try not to peek in the tagine while the veggies are cooking, you do not want the steam to escape.
Serve as a stew with warm sourdough bread or pour it on top of some quinoa or couscous.
Your daily dose of KiKi cuteness
No comments:
Post a Comment