Turn Your Tagine into a Working Member of the Kitchen ... A Beef Stew Creation

Has your tagine taken up a permanent, cozy residence on a dining room shelf like ours has?  Every night, our tagine looked languidly on as we noshed on dinner.  If it could talk or think, it probably thought it had the easy life without having to lend a hand.

Not a whimsical purchase on our part, we had every intention of cooking with it as we were inspired by the gift we had given to our friends last year.  We even cooked in the tagine the weekend we purchased it and were quite delighted with the outcome.  Yet, it retired itself to the shelf of collectibles for the next few months.

Giving the seemingly lazy tagine a break, its usefulness is most appreciated on a leisurely weekend afternoon.  Finding the leisurely afternoon problem is on us, not the tagine.  Finally a free Sunday afternoon presented itself and we asked the tagine to take the stage...front and center.  The entertainment of choice (i.e. the recipe) was a variation of Jamie Oliver's Beef Tagine.  If you're interested in Jamie's recipe click **here**.

Our adaptation of ingredients and a summary of the recipe we created are outlined below.  If you do not have a tagine, it can be prepared in a dutch oven as well.  We've done it both ways with great success.

Massage the spice rub over the meat, refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours before cooking

Prep your tagine with a generous coating of olive oil and warm over medium heat.  Managing expectations here, browning the meat in an earthen tagine will take much longer than you are used to in today's conventional pots and pans.  The beauty of a tagine is the shape of the lid which traps the condensation, returning it back into the cooking liquid. The meat retains a glorious dry/moist flavor that no other type of cooking can provide.

This recipe calls for using the whole cilantro stem (a nose to tail approach creating no waste).  Check out our mise en place prep.

After the meat has seared, add the onion and cilantro stems.  Reserve the leaves for garnish at the end.

Cook for an additional 5 minutes before adding the rinsed/drained chickpeas and chopped tomatoes.

Pour in the stock and bring to a boil.  We used our homemade chicken stock but store bought is fine too.  If you need a homemade recipe for stock check out John's take on stock making.

Bring to a boil, reduce and cover simmering for 1.5 hours.  

This would be a good time to play a game of chess!

After attempting to beat John (an hour and half later), added the prunes and the cauliflower.  If it looks dry, add a bit more stock or water.  No, I didn't win the game.

Gently stir what was just added and put the lid back on for another 1.5 hour simmer.  In the meantime, I found this terrific recipe for homemade pita bread and now would be the perfect time to make it.  If you want to make your own, I can highly recommend fellow food blogger, Half Baked Harvest's recipe.  Click *here* to make it yourself.  So soft and chewy you will NEVER go back to store bought.

After the final simmer, your beef stew is ready.  Garnish with a heavy load of cilantro leaves and sliced almonds.  So perfect for a winter afternoon.

Beef Tagine (adapted from Jamie Oliver)

Ingredients: 

• 1.5 lbs of stewing beef 
• Spice rub:
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp Ras El Hanout (Moroccan spice)
• Olive oil
• One onion, peeled and finely chopped
• A small bunch of cilantro
• (1) 14 oz can of chickpeas
• (1) 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes or 1 large freshly chopped tomato
• 3.5 cups of chicken broth
• (1) small cauliflower head .. florets only
• 3.5 oz of dried prunes roughly chopped
• 2 Tbsp of sliced almonds

To prepare:
1. Mix all the spice rub ingredients together in a small bowl.  Place the beef in a larger bowl and massage the spice rub into the meat.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or preferably overnight. This will allow the spices to really penetrate the meat for flavor.

2. When it's time to start cooking, warm the tagine with medium heat and coat the tagine with a very generous portion of good quality olive oil.  Sear the meat over medium heat till it just starts to take on a brown color.            

3. Add the onions and cilantro stems and continue to cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

4. Fold in the chickpeas and tomatoes.  Add the broth and bring everything to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and place the tagine lid on and cook for an hour and a half.

6. At the hour and half mark, add the cauliflower and prunes.  Give it a gentle stir. 
7. Cook for another hour and a half.  Check in on it occasionally to make sure it hasn't gotten too dry.  If it has, add more broth or water.
8. It's ready to eat when the meat is tender and falling apart.  Garnish with cilantro to add brightness and almonds for a bit of crunch.

Serving size is approximately 4
Time to prepare and cook 3.5-4 hours depending on how leisurely you want to approach this

          

A Marrakesh Inspired Housewarming Gift

How easy it would be to give a kitchen inspired gift I would like to receive.  But I would rather give the intended recipient(s) something they would really want.  My latest opportunity to find just the "right" gift was a lot of fun to acquire and proved to be an inspiration in its own right.

**Recipe Below**

Low and behold the gift of this Tagine:

Hand painted Tagine

Our good friends, Doug & Susan, recently moved into their home at the Marrakesh Country Club in Palm Desert.  The best way to describe the styling of the housing structures would be Hollywood Regency.  You know .... mansard roofs and pullman doors.

Courtesy Palm Springs Modernism Week

The tricky part of a Hollywood Regency home paired with the name Marrakesh is how to decorate.  Fortunately the week before our visit to see them and their new home, they came through our town.  I mentioned to my hubby John, "let's pay attention to what they're talking about for their new place.  Maybe we'll figure out just the right housewarming gift."

Like a gift delivered from the gods, our friends brought a design book to show us the ideas they were thinking about.  Susan said she was going for a bit of the glamour age that Hollywood Regency dictates, but wanted to give a nod to the Moroccan influenced name.

While they both slipped away to the restroom, John and I quickly thumbed through the book for ideas.  See what we saw?

After work one evening, we went to the nearest Williams Sonoma and selected our gift.  Very pleased with ourselves, we took ourselves out to dinner discovering a fantastic Pho restaurant in the mall, 9021PHO.  But I digress....

 The gift was well received and the enthusiasm of what to cook in it the next night took on a life of its own.  After much research we decided on a variation from Epicurious's Chicken Tagine with Couscous.  Being we were not in the land of Morocco, we shopped at the next best ethnic store in the Coachella Valley, Cardenas Market.

A market full of wonderful meats, spices and produce but alas no couscous.  Adapt!  Purchased orzo instead.  We  got a little enthusiastic with our chicken buying and bought too much for our Tagine vessel.  Punt!

We decided it was enough that the Tagine inspired us to make this dish and instead chose the casserole in-the-oven route to bake our feast.  The couscous portion of the meal now turned into a toasted orzo with figs to accompany our braised meat.

We were in a bit of a hurry to get the dish in the oven for a slow cook and didn't get photos documenting the assembly.  It is not terribly difficult as you'll see in the recipe below.

The reason we were in a hurry, is we were aiming to have another type of Moroccan experience.  Market shopping...

If one can't go to the Moroccan Quarter in Granada...then the next best thing is....

The Indio Evening/Night Market, picture courtesy Susan Myrland

We perused every one of the stalls at this bi-weekly swap meet while our dinner concoction was brewing.  By the time we got back home, the most aromatic fragrance drifted to our very hungry tummies.  Imagine how pretty this picture would have been if we could have fit it in the Tagine.

Again, no more time for picture taking...we were over the top ready to eat.  But check out the big cinnamon stick floating in our dish.  It permeated every bit of the meat.  Did the same kind of treatment in the broth where the orzo cooked.

If the Tagine didn't cook it, it made a lovely centerpiece

Chicken Tagine (adapted from Epicurious)

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
• Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and Ras El Hanout (Moroccan spice)
• 15 cipollini onions, blanched and peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/2-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron
• 1/2 cup olives, pitted
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2  lemon, chopped

Toasted Orzo with Dried Figs (My own invention):

• 1 lb of orzo
• 1 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1-inch cinnamon stick
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon of Ras El Hanout
• 1 cup roughly chopped dried figs

To prepare the tagine or casserole:
1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. In a large skillet, drizzle with the olive oil over medium high heat. Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and Ras El Hanout. Working in batches, sear the chicken until deep golden brown on all sides, 5 to 6 minutes total. Reserve seared chicken on a plate.

3. Add the onions to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger to the skillet and continue cooking, until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Add the stock, cumin, and saffron to the pot, and bring the liquid to a boil. Transfer the chicken to the tagine or casserole dish along with any juices that accumulated while it rested.  Pour in the onion/spices mixture to the same tagine or casserole.

4. Cover the tagine or casserole with a tight-fitting lid and bake until the chicken has cooked through, about 2 hours.

5. When the chicken has cooked through, add the olives, parsley, and lemons to the pot. Reserve warm over low heat until ready to serve.

To prepare the toasted orzo with dried figs:
1. Heat butter in a 12" non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add orzo stirring frequently, toasting until lightly brown and golden.  Set aside.

2. In a medium pot over high heat, bring the chicken stock, cinnamon, turmeric,red pepper and Ras El Hanout to a boil. Add the orzo, stir to combine, and cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 10 minutes or until the orzo has absorbed the liquid.

3. Fluff the orzo with a fork. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Stir in chopped figs.  Serve warm with the prepared tagine or casserole.