Merguez Tagine Recipe

By Alina Avery

Earlier this week, I was feeling inspired by this recipe from one of our favorite celebrity chefs, Daniel Boulud. Except we had approximately none of the ingredients and it looked far too time consuming for a regular weeknight. So instead, I cooked up what we had on hand to create a dish that Matt has cited as his favorite ever. The highest praise! Just kidding, he says this about everything I cook; it was part of our marriage vows. But this dish is super delicious, pretty healthy, and fast and easy for weeknights. For reference, the sausage I used was from Whole Foods. They generally stock several variations of sausage and we like to pick up a couple links every so often since they’re super versatile.

We also made the same recipe with chicken breasts instead of sausage a few nights later, but added back in the spices from the Boulud tagine and it was equally as delicious.

IMG_3104

Ingredients:

  • Israeli couscous (pearl or grande)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 cups vegetable broth (or 2 cups water and 1 cube vegetable bouillon)
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 lb lamb merguez sausage, casings removed
  • 1 cup raw kale, chopped, stems removed

To prepare:

  1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan and add dry couscous and stir continuously to toast
  2. When couscous is a bit browned and fragrant, add broth or water
  3. Let simmer until all liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally
  4. Cook onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft
  5. Add garlic to onions and let cook until fragrant
  6. Add sausage to pan and brown, breaking up meat as it cooks
  7. When sausage is cooked, add kale to wilt
  8. Stir in chickpeas until warm

To serve:

Add couscous to a bowl and top with lamb mixture. Enjoy as-is or top with greek yogurt or tzatziki sauce!

 

cropped-afav1.png