Abuela Doloris’ Moorish Tagine

As written, this dish is Paleo diet-approved, especially if you serve it with cauliflower rice.
Makes eight servings.

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Ingredients:

2 lbs of Raw Meat, ground, OR cut into small cubes (Beef, Chicken, Lamb, Bison, Venison, etc.)

12 ozs of one of the following: (or you can mix)

• Roasted butternut squash, cubed
• Roasted sweet potatoes, cubed
• Roasted white potatoes, cubed
• Radishes, cubed
• Carrots, sliced
• Roasted Turnips, cubed
• Roasted Parsnips, cubed

1 White, Sweet Onion, peeled and sliced.

2 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and minced

6 dried dates, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon Raw Honey

6 tablespoons of Tomato Paste

1 tablespoon Ras El Hanout

1 Cinnamon Stick

2 cups Stock or Broth of choice (Try to match up with the meat, chicken stock for chicken meat, beef stock for bison, beef, venison, etc.)

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Directions:

1. In a medium pot, Tagine pot, or Dutch Oven, heat 2 teaspoons of your choice of oil on medium until hot.

2. Add the onion, garlic, and your chosen veg into the oil and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the veg is softened; season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Increase the heat to high and add your meat to the pot with the vegetable mixture. If you are using ground meat, stir to break the meat up; otherwise, with both types of meat, cook until browned.

4. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the Ras E Hanout spice. Cook for 1 minute, stirring into the meat mixture.

5. Add the tomato paste, cook for another minute, stirring until the tomato paste is caramelized.

6. Stir in the honey, the stock/broth, and the cinnamon stick, season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Bring the Tagine to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.

8. Remove from heat and discard the cinnamon Stick.

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Serve over your choice of rice, cauliflower rice, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, barley, couscous, or farro; the sky is the limit.

You can even eat as is in a bowl, like a thick stew, or with a pita.

In the image of my dish, I used ground beef, frozen butternut squash cubes, and beef stock, served alongside cauliflower rice.

And Now for some Important things...

**Note 1: As I said above, my Abuela Doloris often used goat or lamb for this recipe and a combo of carrots and turnips. As I grew up and struck out on my own, I changed the veggies as I went more towards a Paleo and then a Paleo Keto diet. This dish is epic with parsnips or radishes in combo.

Sadly, This dish cannot be compliant for most Keto dieters (20 carbs or less a day.) The dish does not taste the same without honey or the dates; believe me, I have tried.

But, my favorite and most often cooked is ground beef and butternut squash. Perfect for when I need a carb reload!

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**Note 2: This recipe can be made vegetarian or vegan by removing the meat (obviously) and changing that out to mushrooms, lentils, tofu, chickpeas, etc.; changing the stock/broth to a vegetable one, and changing out the honey to a more appropriate syrup type sweetener, especially date syrup.

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**Note 3: No, I don’t have the nutritional numbers. You can input the recipe in My Fitness Pal or Carb Manager. Nope, this is not a paid gig; I mentioned those two because I have used them, and they are the ones I am familiar with.