Beef Tagine over Couscous
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What a crazy week it has been!ย We had a half day on Tuesday, I had meetings all day Wednesday, Halloween on Thursday, and then a behavioral reward on Friday.ย I’m exhausted but it’s also been one of the most fun weeks.ย My kids had a blast at our behavioral reward party and we even had an impromptu dance party!ย (I may have been singing and dancing!)
At the end of the week I realized I still hadn’t made my dish for this week’s #SundaySupper theme Middle Eastern Cuisine.ย There’s a little placed called Ali Baba in Morgantown, WV where we like to go about once a month.ย They have the best Mediterranean food around!
Seriously the lamb kabobs are amazing, the hummus is the best I’ve had, and the baba ganoush is out of this world!ย I don’t have much experience making any Middle Eastern Cuisine except for hummus, so I took this opportunity to make something totally new.
I love lamb so I wanted to make lamb tagine.ย After my crazy week I went to the market and of course there was no lamb to be found.
I spent months last year begging for ground lamb and they now stock that all the time but other lamb meat is not readily available in my area.ย So unfortunately I had to go for my second choice which was beef.ย In the end the beef tagine ended up being pretty awesome so I didn’t mind.
The flavors are sweet, savory, and a bit spicy.ย I had mine with the chopped apricots but my husband doesn’t like fruit in his entrees so I kept them out of his.ย We both like the spices in this dish and that it was served over couscous.ย It was a bright and vibrant dish that I can’t wait to make again (with lamb!)
Beef Tagine over Couscous (adapted from Epicurious)
2 lb. beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 T. olive oil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 t. tumeric
2 t. paprika
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 T. ginger, peeled and chopped
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
2 T. flour
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. dried apricots, chopped
2 c. cooked couscous
3 T. chopped cilantro
1.ย Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.ย Season the beef with salt and pepper then add to the skillet.ย Brown on all sides.ย Add in the onion and saute for 5 minutes.
2.ย Stir in the garlic cloves and cook for 1 minute.ย Add in the tumeric, paprika, and ginger and mix well.
3.ย Stir in the diced tomatoes, chicken stock, and flour.ย Mix well.ย Bring to a boil then reduced heat to medium low and cook for 40 minutes.
4.ย Stir in the chickpeas and apricots and cook for 5 minutes.ย Remove from heat.
5.ย Serve over top of couscous and sprinkle with cilantro.
Sounds so good, reminds me of our favorite Moroccan place – YUM!!
Sounds like a great dish. It is so hard for me to find lamb, I once went to three different stores trying to find ground lamb. But this sounds like to turned out great with beef too.
I hadn’t gone past the baba ganoush either, but this sure sounds wonderful Heather! All those spice in middle eastern food make any boring ingredient come to life. I could eat this dish for days!
This looks and sounds amazing!
This looks really good.
Love the ginger in this. It’s really just a beautiful dish!!
What a beautiful dish, Heather! We are fortunate that lamb of all sorts is available where I live so I do tend to use it in curries and stews more than beef. I think it has more flavor. That said, any meat would be delicious cooked with the combination of spices you have here. Send me a big bowl, please!
Wow, this sounds fantastic! I can’t believe I have never tried couscous! Also, I JUST bought a huge lot of chickpeas.. This came at the perfect time!
This sounds like such a great dinner. So warm and comforting!
Love the addition of apricots, Heather. Very nice of you to take them out for your husband =)
Nice to see a tagine recipe that doesn’t require an actual tagine to cook it. Great flavors and nice hearty dish.
One of my favorite dish!
I could go for either beef or lamb tagine! It sounds phenomenal!
You are so much fun… love the idea of an impromptu dance party! I thought teachers loved half days…. no?
So glad you found time to make and share this fabulous recipe during #SundaySupper…. love me some couscous!