I knew when I woke up this morning that I needed double the hours in my diary to get everything done. On days like this I don’t want my nutrition to be the bottom priority – and it’s even more important to have an enjoyable meal in the evening.
Tagines are the ultimate quick-prep-slow-cook meal option and today’s recipe was cobbled together using some meat I got out of the freezer last night and a quick root around the fridge this morning. If you haven’t got a tagine you can always use a slow cooker – or vice versa.
Ingredients
- 500g organic pork collar (or similar) cut into large chunks (meat)
- 300g butternut squash cut into chunks (vegetable)
- 1 medium cooking apple cored and sliced into chunks (fruit)
- 1 leek sliced into 1″ rounds (onion)
- 6 cloves of garlic in their skins
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 tablespoon harissa paste ( I like the Belazu Rose Harissa)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 4″ stick of cinnamon
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- a few chunks of lemon peel
- salt and pepper
- extra chilli to taste
Method
- Prepare all the above ingredients and toss together to evenly distribute spices.
- Place the ingredients in the slow cooker and cook for 3 hours.
- Taste, if you can, at the 2 hour point and adjust seasoning – more or less salt? extra chilli? a dash of pomegranate molasses?
- Serve with broccoli or cavolo nero, a dollop of natural yoghurt and some coriander leaves.
Variations
The recipe above can be endlessly varied by chopping and changing the meat, vegetable, fruit and onion combination. For example:
- Meat: beef, lamb, pork, chicken, venison
- Vegetable: squash, courgette, carrot, sweet potato, red pepper, tomatoes
- Fruit: cooking apple, dried prunes or apricots,
- Onion: onion, shallots, leeks, etc.
The spices can also be varied according to taste: cinnamon, cumin, coriander seeds, cardamom, cayenne, ginger, turmeric, paprika, cloves – experiment with different flavour combinations.
NB You can get a more authentic flavour from a tagine but they need to be watched a little more carefully. Still a great fast food option though.
The Power Recipes 
looks wonderful can’t wait to try it.
Dawny, should there be some liquid in this recipe? I’ve made your recipe tonight and added a couple of tins of tomatoes, smells great but not scoffed it yet.
G
Hi Gordy, it works fine in tagine/slow cooker without water as the steam keeps it all moist. But tomatoes would work well too for a more saucy stew.
..just tried it, absolutely delicious,the spices really work well.