Vegetarian stew that gets the carnivores salivating

Last weekend I had a dear friend to stay and her new boyfriend. Before they came I checked if  Boyfriend had any food likes or dislikes. Turned out he was a vegetarian. Ok. I like a challenge. Having almost all meat eating friends and family I don't normally cater for veggies. At least not knowingly. 

So, cue recipe books being flung open and tossed aside. After some searching I decided a big bowl of stew would be nice...hmmm venison..yum. Oops. Focus.

I then thought a chickpea tagine would be a good call as it includes lots of delicious warm spices and flavours - harissa, paprika, mint - and so I went with that.This is a recipe I found on BBC, slightly adapted for my own tastes. You can add any other spices (or take away), such as ginger, if you like. It also called for apricots instead of the prunes which I used instead.

To serve 4 hungry people. We had ours with bread but you can make up some couscous if you prefer.

1 butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into 2-3cm chunks

2 courgettes, top and tailed, cut into bite sized chunks

1 white onion, sliced

2 or 3 garlic cloves,crushed

1 red pepper, de-seeded, chopped into chunks

12 prunes

500ml passata

400g can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tsp of harissa paste (make up your own or buy a jar, recipe below)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp honey

a good glug of olive oil

fresh mint

greek yoghurt to serve

For the harissa paste (makes enough for another time. Keep in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks).

One juice of a lime

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

2 tsp of ground cumin

1 1/2  tsp of tomato paste

Olive oil

Mix together and taste. Season to taste

Oven to 160 degrees centigrade for fan assisted, about 180 for non-fan.

You will need:

A chopping board

Sharp knife

Large oven proof dish with a lid.

Pre-heat your oven. Cut up all the butternut squash, courgettes, onion, pepper and put into to dish with the chickpeas and prunes.

 In a pan over a medium heat the oil and gently fry off the garlic before adding the harissa, cumin and paprika. Gently heat until the aromas warm through. Be careful not to burn the spices or this will give your food a nasty bitter taste. Add the honey and passatta and bring to the boil. 

Pour over the vegetables. Put the lid on and put in the oven for two to three hours. Stir a couple of times during cooking to make sure the flavours get into every corner! Season with plenty of pepper and salt.

To serve, roughly chop some mint and stir into the yoghurt. Spoon out generous portions of the tagine with the minty yoghurt on the side. Drizzle with a little more oil and honey.