Root Vegetable and Cauliflower Tagine

I had never even tasted a tagine, let alone made a tagine before last week, so when Shea sent me this recipe from Food and Wine I thought we should be adventurous and give it a try. I enjoyed using this recipe to try some of the root veggies like parsnips (which I also hadn't tried before).

There was a lot of chopping involved with this recipe, and I ended up having to use two frying pans in order to make the dish. Next time I would make it in a big soup pot to minimize clean up. I made the dish as described below, only substituting the currants with dried cranberries.

After it was all said and done, we had a healthy stew of root veggies that we served over rice. I enjoyed this recipe, but Seamus wasn't a fan. He thought that it was too starchy and he wasn't especially fond of the spices either. Oh well!


Root Vegetable and Cauliflower Tagine

1. 1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
2. 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
3. Kosher salt
4. Freshly ground pepper
5. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
6. 1 medium onion, finely chopped
7. 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
8. 3 tablespoons tomato paste
9. 1 tablespoon ground cumin
10. 2 teaspoons ground coriander
11. 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
12. 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
13. 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
14. 2 pounds turnips, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
15. 1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
16. One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
17. 1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth
18. Pinch of saffron threads
19. 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
20. 1/2 cauliflower (1 pound), cut into bite-size florets
21. Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
22. 1/2 cup dried currants
23. 1 1/2 cups pitted green olives, quartered

1. In a bowl, whisk the yogurt with the 1/4 cup of parsley and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
2. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and a generous pinch each of salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, coriander, crushed red pepper, caraway and cinnamon and cook, stirring, until fragrant and glossy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the turnips, parsnips, tomatoes and their liquid, broth, saffron and 1 cup of water to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the turnips and parsnips are beginning to soften, about 20 minutes.
4. Add the sweet potatoes, cauliflower, chickpeas and currants to the pot. Cover partially and simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the olives and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the tagine to a serving bowl, garnish with parsley and serve with the yogurt.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/root-vegetable-and-cauliflower-tagine-with-parsley-yogurt