Red Carpet Ready TV Episode 11

Today’s episode of Red Carpet Ready TV features The Healthy Irishman, Gavan Murphy! He shares a fantastic healthy Holiday recipe with us..

Here’s the Recipe:

Sick of turkey yet? Need a little breather from the winged one? Then you must try this recipe out. Not to worry, it’s still in line with the season since it’s full of autumn veg and cinnamon accents, which are just brilliant at this time of year. And it’s a great dish to warm your bones, esp. for all of you experiencing signs of winter. Wonder when that will kick in here in Los Angeles….

What exactly is this dish you ask? A tagine is a North African dish (typically Moroccan) of spiced meats and vegetables prepared by slow cooking ingredients together usually in a tagine (clay pot). Of course a saute pan works as well. By using this method of slow cooking the flavors will marry together and you’ll end up with a fantastic flavorful dish.

autumn-tagine

RECIPE: Serves 8

  • 2 cups butternut squash – peeled, seeded & diced into 1? cubes
  • 3 cups Japanese eggplant, sliced diagonally into 1?pieces
  • 2 cups red onion – diced into 1? pieces
  • 3 garlic cloves – minced
  • 2 tbsp. fresh ginger – grated
  • 2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 2 cups fresh cauliflower florets
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • S&P to taste
  • 3 cups vegetable broth]
  • 1 stick cinnamon or 1-2 tsp.
  • 2 tbsp. agave / honey
  • 2 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp. lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
  • 1 tbsp. chopped mint for garnish

TAGINE DIRECTIONS:
Combine the squash, eggplant, onion, cauliflower, peas, garlic, ginger, cumin, chili powder, S&P and olive oil in a large mixing bowl and toss together. Mix well.
Pre-heat a large saute pan. In 3 batches, saute the veg mix until lightly browned, approx 3-4 mins. per batch. Remove each sauteed batch to another mixing bowl and repeat browning process until completed. When all the veg have been browned return the entire batch back to saute pan. Add broth, cinnamon (stick or powdered), agave, lemon juice and zest and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 mins. stirring occasionally. Taste and season with S&P. Just before serving remove cinnamon stick and stir in cilantro.

CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH

Cranberries are quite bitter so the majority of recipes use sugar when making. It’s usually 1:1 water:sugar. I try to avoid sugar as much as possible as there are so many great alternatives. I prefer to use agave nectar which although is a real sugar and has similar properties to many sugars its glycemic index is much lower which makes it less likely to raise blood sugar levels. Agave is 40% sweeter than sugar so you also use less. Check out http://www.allaboutagave.com/ for more info.

  • 1 12 oz. bag cranberries
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 2/3 cup agave or honey
  • 1 tbsp. fresh ginger-chopped
  • 1 med. orange-zested

Place all above into sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once the cranberries start popping reduce the heat and stir until blended, 10 mins. approx. Taste for sweetness (add more agave if needed) and refrigerate. This can be made a day or so in advance.

Yields 3 cups.

Visit http://www.thehealthyirishman.com for more tips & recipes from Gavan!