Heretical Vegetable Tagine With Turnips (Deal With It)
Traditional Moroccan tagines simmer away all day. Honey, who's got the time? This heretical version produces the same result in a fraction of the time (see, sometimes heresy is a good thing). Steadfast turnip refuseniks, some good news -- substitute a can of rinsed, drained chickpeas for the turnips and you're good to go.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion
- 3 medium-to-large turnips
- 1 large carrot
- 4 stalks celery
- 2 peppers red or green
- 6 collard greens or handful of Swiss chard or spinach leaves sliced into ribbons
- 1 15- ounce can organic diced tomatoes
- 1 handful raisins
- 1/2 teaspoon each paprika cumin, cinnamon, aleppo pepper (or cayenne) and saffron
- 1 wedge preserved lemon or 1 fresh lemon
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 bunch Italian parsley
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water, then bring to boil. Peel turnips and chop into bite-sized pieces. Add turnip bits to water, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until turnips are tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a large stock pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Chop onion, carrot, celery and peppers. Add to oil, along with turnips. Toss well. Add paprika, cumin, cinnamon, aleppo pepper and saffron. Stir in greens.
- Add diced tomatoes plus any juice from the can. Stir well. Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let it simmer on its own for 45 minutes or so, until vegetables are tender.
- Add preserved lemon, chopped fine, or the juice of 1 fresh lemon. Add sea salt to taste.
- Just before serving, stir in finely chopped parsley and cilantro.
- Serve over whole grain couscous.