Spice up your autumn evenings with Jamie Oliver’s veg tagine recipe

Leslie Ann Horgan

Cold comforts.

As summer draws to a close, we’re all about transitional dressing – which right now means layering thick cardis over our floral dresses and swapping in boots for sandals.

So why not try some transitional eating too?

This new dish from Jamie Oliver combines the taste of summer travel with that warmth that we’re all looking for on autumn evenings. The tasty veggie tagine lets you take your tastebuds to Morocco, while the rest of you stays happily plonked in front of Netflix.

The recipe comes from Jamie’s latest cookbook, VEG, which is packed with creative vegetarian recipes that will help you make more of your diet plant-based without compromising on taste.

Warning: may leave you in desperate need of a trip to Marrakech.

Wonderful veg tagine
Saffron, preserved lemons, apricots, fluffy couscous & toasted almonds

Serves 6
1 hour

Ingredients

1 pinch of saffron
4 cloves of garlic 4cm piece of ginger olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ras el hanout
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato paste
2.5kg mixed veg, such as aubergines, courgettes, carrots, cherry tomatoes, red onion, butternut squash, mixed-colour peppers
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas 100g dried apricots
1 preserved lemon
300g couscous
1/2 a bunch of mixed fresh herbs, such as dill, mint, flat-leaf parsley (15g)
20g flaked almonds

Method

Put the saffron into a jug, cover with 500ml of boiling water and leave to infuse. Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the garlic and ginger, then place in a large casserole pan over a medium heat with 2 tablespoons of oil, the cumin, cinnamon and ras el hanout. Add the tomato paste, fry for a few minutes, stirring regularly, then pour over the saffron water.

Trim and prep the veg, as necessary, then chop into large chunks, adding them to the pan as you go. Tip in the chickpeas (juices and all), roughly chop and add the apricots and preserved lemon, discarding any pips, then season with sea salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally.

When the veg are almost tender, just cover the couscous with boiling water, season with salt and pepper and pop a plate on top. Leave for 10 minutes, then fluff and fork up. pick the herb leaves and toast the almonds. Serve the tagine and couscous sprinkled with the almonds and herbs.

Delicious served with harissa rippled yoghurt.

Tip

In the summer I grow most of these vegetables, and I’m always eager to pick, wash and race to cook this dish – the flavour is just extraordinary with tender, delicate veg.