Another beautiful cookbook plus a great recipe: a spiced veggie stew with chermoula! This cookbook is focused on slow cooked food, designed to fit in a slow cooker but luckily al the recipes are also written for making the great dishes on the stove. I say luckily because unfortunately I’m still not an owner of a slow cooker. If I only had a bigger kitchen…

Slow cooked has the last years turned out as a rather hip word. Sort of “for those with the luxury of having enough time left” but actually it is completely the other way around. Slow cooked means just adding all ingredients to the pan and let it take care of itself for X hours. When opening the lid, the most beautiful smells comes to you. Rich and full of flavour. What time can do for a taste, my fascination is and stays beyond!

The recipes are simple to follow but, as often lately, requires some research for maybe unknown ingredients. You don’t get very much information about the ingredients itself but Google can always help out right?
The photos are absolutely beautiful and immediately makes my stomach rumble (and that is always a good sign!). The recipes are covering food from different corners of the world; meat, fish, curry dishes, vegetarian, vegan and even sweets! It is simple but delicate. Spot on and without so much discussion. Good food, just like that.

Vegetable tagine with chermoula paste
For you lovely readers, I have chosen a magnificent, vegan (if you don’t combine it with Turkish yoghurt as I did) stew with lots of taste. It is, as often, with stews easy-going. The most work is in the peeling of the veggies and chopping the herbs. For the rest, you can relax on your couch.

The tastemaker for the vegetables is the Chermoula paste with roots in North Africa. We tend to use the paste mostly for (grilled) meat and fish but this is the proof that it also works perfect with sweet root vegetables.
The preserved lemons can be found in stores with Moroccan or Turkish food. From my Turkish neighbor wife, I have learned that the best preserved lemons are to be bought in a plastic bucket rather than the glass jar. So I do, when the experts are talking… In case you are not familiar with the lovely lemons, I can tell you that they are very salt! You only use the thick peel and the pulp you throw away. Cut the skin in small slices or cubes and serve them with any meat, fish or veggies. They give a lovely, salt and sour dimension to your dish.

Let’s get to work!
Vegetable tagine with chermoula paste
4 persons, 3 hours in the slow cooker, 40 minutes on the stove

Ingredients (veggies)
1 small celeriac, peeled and cut in pieces of 4×4 cm
1 bunt of radishes
1 bunt of small beet roots, peeled and cut in halves
1 bunt of small carrots, scraped

Ingredients (chermoula)
3 tbsp extra Virginia olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
1 big, red onion, roughly grated
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric
1,5 tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp parsley, finely cut
4 tbsp cilantro, finely cut
3 tbsp preserved lemons, finely chopped
0,5 gram saffron, soaked in 1 tbsp hot water
250 ml water

How do I do it?
1. Chermoula: pour the oil in a big pan. Add the garlic, ginger, onion, chilli flakes, turmeric and cumin to the oil and let it carefully bake on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Meanwhile chop the herbs and preserved lemons.
2. Add the chopped up herbs, preserved lemon, and saffron including the soaking water.
3. Add the vegetables and 250 ml water to the pan. Stir carefully to see that the chermoula really covers al veggies.
4. Reduce the heat to low and place the lid on.
5. Let the stew simmer for 40 minutes until all vegetables are al dente.
6. Check the seasoning before serving with salt and pepper.
7. Serve the stew with roasted pumpkin seeds, fresh cilantro, maybe some thick yoghurt or feta and some extra preserved lemons. You could also add some cauliflower rice or quinoa if you like. Some dried apricots or raisins would also work perfect as an extra!

This dish is free from gluten, sugar and lactose (depending what you combine it with of course!). The recipe is suitable for vegans, vegetarians and paleo eaters.

ENG: Whole food slow cooked by Olivia Andrews, ISBN 9781743365588, buy it here (click link)
NL: Slow food by Olivia Andrews, ISBN 9789461431400, buy it here (click link)
SE: Boken är tyvärr inte översatt till svenska ännu.