Fragrant Moroccan Beef, Date, Honey And Prune Tagine - Crock Pot

Total Time: 53 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 8 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 3 lbs organic beef, trimmed of fat & cubed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb onion, peeled & quartered
• 4 -6 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped finely
• 1 lb carrot, peeled & cut into chunks
• 9 ounces canned tomatoes
• 4 ounces dates, pitted but kept whole
• 6 ounces prunes, pitted but kept whole
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 pint beef stock
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 6 teaspoons ras el hanout spice mix (or 2 teaspoons cumin powder, 2 teaspoons coriander powder, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1 teaspoon turmeric)
• salt & pepper
• 2 ounces toasted sliced almonds
• 2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped

Recipe

• 1 par-boil the carrots in boiling water for about 3 -5 minutes.
• 2 preheat the electric tagine or crock pot to high.
• 3 heat up half of the olive oil in a large frying pan and quickly brown the onion quarters over a fairly high heat until charred & coloured well. tip them into the crock pot.
• 4 add the chopped garlic & par-boiled carrots to the onions in the crock pot.
• 5 make up 1/2 pint of stock with a beef stock cube. add the honey to the the stock & all the dried spices. tip the honey & spiced stock into the crock pot & mix well. add the cinnamon stick.
• 6 add the tinned tomatoes, dates & prunes to the crock pot - mix well.
• 7 heat up the remaining olive oil and brown the beef cubes in small batches to sear & seal them. as you finish browning them, add the beef to the crock pot.
• 8 when you have finished browning all the beef, give the whole mixture a good stir & season with salt & pepper.
• 9 cook on high for between 6 & 10 hours depending on your crock pot's wattage & settings.
• 10 serve the beef tagine with fluffy couscous and garnish with the chopped fresh coriander & toasted flaked almonds. it also works well with rice too.
• 11 p.s. watch out for the cinnamon stick! we sometimes award the lucky winner of the cinnamon stick with an extra glass of wine!
• 12 p.p.s. you can use dates & prunes which have not been pitted, they do tend to hold their shape better too, just warn your guests that they must look out for the stones!