This is a gorgeous vegetarian butternut squash and butter bean tagine, that is SO simple to make!

Serves 4- Cooking Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized butternut squash
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of butter beans
• 2 white onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2tbsp Moroccan spice mix (I used a combination of a standard spice mix and ras-el hanout)
• 1tsp cumin
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1tbsp runny honey
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• cous cous (enough for 4 people)
• 1 unwaxed lemon
• handful of parsley
• handful of coriander (or if you prefer, mint works lovely too!)

METHOD:

• Begin by finely slicing the garlic cloves, and roughly chop the onions (or if you don’t like chunks of onion, then finely slice these).
• Now to prepare the butternut squash! This can seem a little daunting, but don’t be scared. Lay the squash on a chopping board, and cut in half to separate the neck from the base. To peel, simply stand the both parts of the squash flat side down, and slice off the skin using a sharp knife. Scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh, and roughly chop into cubes.
• Next, heat a glug of olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and cook until translucent. Then add the garlic and fry for a further 2 mins.
• Keeping on a medium heat, add the squash to the pan and let it cook a little.
• After about 3 minutes, add in each of the dry spices. Make sure to stir this through quickly so that they don’t burn, or stick to the bottom!
• Add the tin of tomatoes, and then refill the empty tin till it’s half-full with water. Add that, along with the stock to the pan and give everything a thorough mix.
• Turn the heat up to high and wait for the tagine to begin to boil. Once it has, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover.
• The overall length of time it takes to cook the butternut squash will depend on how large the cubes are, so check on the tagine every 15 mins (although it shouldn’t take any longer than 45 minutes altogether).
• Once the squash is nice a soft, add the honey, the butter beans (drain and rinse these before you add them!), season to taste and remove the lid so that the tagine can reduce and thicken.
• In the meantime, cook the cous cous according to the instruction on the packet.
• Roughly chop the parsley and coriander, or whatever fresh herbs you have chosen to you, and zest and juice the lemon. Add the to cous cous with a little drizzle of oil and mix everything together!
• And voila- serve spoonfuls of the tagine over a bed of fluffy cous cous!