Hello everyone!

Well winter is finally upon us, even here in California, and I’m starting to crave hearty yet healthy dishes that warm us up and make us feel like Yule is approaching.

This recipe is actually by the chef Yotam Ottolenghi, and is a wonderful North African dish that uses many of the traditional tagine spices which are also what I associate with Yule and Christmas.  It uses root veg and squashes, which is good as I always get some on my veg box and need yummy ways of using them up.  It looks like a long ingredients list, but it is very easy to make and once all the veg is prepped takes about an hour to cook.  It has 479 calories, is a good source of fibre and counts as two of your five a day.  Enjoy!  Serves 4 generously.

From www.ottolenghi.co.uk

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 medium carrots, cut into 2cm chunks
2 medium parsnips, cut into 2cm chunks
8 shallots
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise
3 bay leaves
5 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp hot paprika
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
300g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
75g dried apricots, roughly chopped
200g chickpeas, canned or fresh cooked, plus 350ml of the cooking liquid or water
170g couscous
large pinch saffron threads
260ml boiling vegetable stock
20g butter, broken into pieces
25g harissa paste
25g preserved lemon skin
30g coriander leaves

Method

• Heat the oven to 190c/170c fan/375f/gas 5.  Put the carrots, parsnips and shallots in a large ovenproof dish.  Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise, bay leaves, 4 tbsp of the oil, 3/4 tsp salt and all the other spices and mix well.  Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Add the pumpkin or squash, stir, and return to the oven.  Continue cooking for about 35 minutes, by which time the vegetables should have softened while still retaining some bite.  Add the dried apricots and the chickpeas with their cooking liquid or water.  Return to the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until hot.
• About 15 minutes before the veg are ready, put the couscous into a large heatproof bowl with the remaining oil, the saffron and 1/2 tsp salt.  Pour the boiling stock over the couscous, stir, and then cover the bowl with cling film and leave for about 10 mins.  Add the butter and fluff up the couscous with a fork until the butter is melted into it.  Cover and leave somewhere warm.
• To serve, spoon the couscous into a deep plate or bowl.  Stir the harissa and preserved lemon into the vegetables and if needed add a little salt.  Spoon the vegetables onto the centre of the couscous and sprinkle over plenty of coriander leaves.

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