Root Vegetable Tagine With Herbed Couscous

By Sarah Copeland

Root Vegetable Tagine With Herbed Couscous
Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(354)
Comments
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A pot of warm, fragrant root vegetables spooned over bright, lemony couscous is as good as gold on a winter day. Studded with chickpeas, raisins and meaty morsels of stewed tomatoes, this dish balances traditional tagine spices — cinnamon, coriander and turmeric — with a bright boost of ginger and lemon. Given a little time on the stove for the flavors to deepen and the vegetables to turn spoon-tender, this tagine is a worthwhile investment. Double it for a week of leftovers. You don’t need a traditional terracotta tagine to pull this dish off. A Dutch oven mimics the same high heat conduction and similarly traps steam to keep the vegetables tender and moist, and bathed in flavor from the broth.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

    For the Root-vegetable Tagine

    • 2tablespoons olive oil
    • 1large white or yellow onion, roughly chopped
    • Kosher salt 
    • 3garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
    • 1cinnamon stick
    • 1(1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
    • 2teaspoons ground coriander
    • 2teaspoons ground turmeric
    • 2cups vegetable stock
    • 1medium butternut squash (about 2¼ pounds), peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
    • 4small carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
    • 1(28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, with their juices, tomatoes roughly chopped
    • 1lemon, peel removed in strips with a vegetable peeler and reserved, remaining lemon cut into wedges
    • 1(14-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • ⅓cup golden or brown raisins
    • 1tablespoon honey
    • Black pepper
    • Fresh pomegranate seeds, for garnish
    • Roughly chopped parsley or cilantro leaves, for garnish

    For the Herbed Couscous

    • 2½cups vegetable stock
    • 2¼cups whole-wheat couscous (14 ounces)
    • Zest from 1 lemon
    • 1½teaspoons salt
    • 1packed cup chopped parsley leaves
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook until beginning to soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cinnamon, ginger, coriander and turmeric, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spices are toasted, 2 to 3 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Add the stock, squash, carrots, tomatoes and their juices, and lemon peel. Stir to release any spice bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook until the vegetables are almost tender and break easily with a spoon, 20 to 25 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Stir in the chickpeas, raisins and honey and simmer, covered, until the chickpeas are warmed through and the raisins are plump, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Step 4

    Meanwhile, prepare the couscous: Bring the stock to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Combine the couscous, lemon zest and salt in a large bowl; pour the boiling stock on top. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap to steam, about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and stir in the parsley.

  5. Step 5

    Divide the herbed couscous among the bowls and spoon the warm tagine on top. Sprinkle generously with pomegranate seeds and parsley or cilantro, and serve with lemon wedges on the side, for squeezing over.

Ratings

4 out of 5
354 user ratings
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Comments

Thom

Started to cook this in a real tagine but quickly discovered the volume and the amount of liquid was too much to contain. So, transferred to a cast iron dutch oven. Very good, but I'd want to work on the spice blend next time to ensure a fully complex flavor.

Audrey

Checking the notes here and the Cook's Illustrated version before I make this... CI recommends stirring in some plain yogurt. Also cumin and paprika, and an onion. Going to try combining these two recipes, but thinking the yogurt will help with the "something missing" feeling people are having.

Becky

After reading the comments, I used just 1 cup of stock, which was plenty. I added to the spice mix 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, and a heaping tsp of regular paprika. Later I stirred in a spoonful of harissa. I also added a small zucchini since my butternut squash was small. When the dish was cooked, I squeezed on some lemon and served with Greek yogurt, pomegranate seeds, and plain couscous made just with stock. It was excellent. My husband praised the dish.

Improviser

I cooked this in stages because I decided to add zucchini late in the process, and the fresh cherry tomatoes weren't flavourful enough so I added a smaller can of diced tomatoes at the end. This turns out to be a useful approach because these ingredients cook at different rates anyway. As recommended I added cumin, paprika and hot pepper flakes. Turnips, parsnip and sweet potato substituted for the squash I could not purchase during a massive snowstorm.

Hilarie

Not sure why this is billed as a "root vegetable" tagine... Yes, it has some carrots and onions, but what stew doesn't? I'd use sweet potatoes instead of butternut squash, and add some roasted beets or parsnips.

barb

Added some preserved lemon to the pot. Excellent

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