Quick Moroccan Tagine

I have had the pleasure of eating some great tagines in the last while and I have an ever-growing obsession with cous cous so cooking and enjoying both of these at home is a must. To cook a 'real' tagine can take several hours but this 'cheaters' tagine can be prepared and cooked in under a hour, and still tastes delicious. This is a vegetarian recipe but it is easy to add chicken to this for a meat version.

Serves 2

1 400g tin tomatoes
1 400g tin chickpeas, drained
100ml vegetable stock
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green chili, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cm cube of ginger, grated
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp coriander leaf
Salt and black pepper

To serve

100-120g of cous cous
100g green beans
2-3 small pitta breads


Sweat the onion for 10 minutes in a pot on a low heat.

Add the garlic, ginger, and chili and stir for a minute

Add the spices and stir for another minute

Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, chickpeas, and the coriander leaf and stir. Season with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. With 5 minutes to go, add the cherry tomatoes.

With 5 minutes to go, prepare the cous cous (about 100-120g for two people)

Serve the tagine with the cous cous, some green beans, and some warm pitta bread.


*****Chicken Version

If you want to add some meat to this quick tagine then simply cut some chicken into cubes and place in a bowl. Add the garlic, ginger, and chili to the bowl, and rub the ground cumin and ground coriander into the meat. Leave to marinade for a hour or two, if you can. When cooking add the chicken (with the garlic, ginger, chili and spices in the bowl) to the pot after you sweat the onions, the continue with the recipe as above. I would switch the vegetable stock for chicken stock too, put it will not impact on the recipe if you stick with the vegetable stock.

Sausage and Lentil Stew

This is actually my boyfriend's recipe but I'm going to steal it for the blog......

This may seem like a winter-warmer but it is comfort eating at its best and I think it works all year round. This recipe uses venison sausages (which are lean, so not as bad for you as other types) but can be made with any flavour of sausage.

Serves 2

4 venison sausages
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, cut into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp rosemary
150g green lentils
400ml chicken stock
200g tinned tomatoes (half a standard can)
Salt and black pepper


Cook the sausages first, although do not cook completely. Make sure they are browned then cut into 1.5 inch chunks.

In a pot, heat some oil on a low heat and sweat the onion, carrot and garlic for3-4 minutes.

Add the sausages, tomatoes, stock, lentils, rosemary and season with some salt and black pepper.

Bring to the boil.

Cover and simmer for 35 minutes.

Serve with some warm, crusty bread.

Haddock with Lentil and Bean Stew

This delicious fish stew is made with haddock but any white fish such as cod or hake will do just as well. The stew is hearty enough for winter dish but light enough to enjoy in summer too.


Serves 2

2 fillets of haddock (or other white fish)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
400g tin tomatoes
400g tin cannellini beans
40g green lentils
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
3 handfuls of spinach
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp of sugar
Salt and Black pepper

Heat oil in a pot on a low heat and sweat onion and garlic for 10 minutes

Add the tomatoes, lentils, sugar, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir occasionally.

Add the spinach and stir well until the spinach has softened. Add the beans and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add the cheery tomatoes and stir. Add the fish - place the fillets in the pot but leave the top of the fillets peeking out of the sauce. Cover and leave for 3-5 minutes.

Serve in bowls, piping hot, with some crusty bread.


**For a lighter option, leave out the lentils

**For a vegetarian option, leave out the fish and and double the lentil portion