Moroccan Veggie Stew

So I've been reading Clean Eating Magazine, the sister publication to Oxygen magazine. Clean Eating has some yummy stuff. Usually I modify to reduce the land-based-animal protein component, but the recipes are a great source of inspiration.

Tonight I made this Moroccan Veggie stew from the most recent issue....the picture in the magazine showed all these gorgeous vegetables, snuggled up in an almost clear broth that was highlighted with brilliant green cilantro. Yeah, mine didn't turn out like that.

The sweet potato dissolved by the time the carrot and onion were nice and tender, so I had a thick stew with barely discernible chunks of veggies. There was no broth to speak of. There was also no cilantro, and hence no gorgeous green highlights. But you know what? It didn't matter. This was good! Like, one-week-out-from-pictures-be-damned-I'm-having-more good.



To be fair to the Clean Eating people, I didn't exactly follow the recipe in a strict scene, so perhaps if you do your stew will be more visually appealing. I added the veggies I had in amounts that seemed reasonable: fennel, sweet potato, onion, kohlrabi, garlic carrot and zucchini, and added both prunes and raisins into the mix. I skipped the puree step because I didn't have any liquid to speak of; I just had the sweet potato mash. I also skipped the fish, because today wasn't a training day and I just didn't feel the need to thaw fish.

Instead of the recommended couscous, I served mine on brown rice (which I had already made), and topped it with a dollop of sambal for heat and a wedge of lime. The acid from the lime elevated the whole thing, although it may have taken the flavor profile in a vaguely Thai-ish direction. If I were to leave out the dried fruit and chickpeas, and add in some coconut milk and fish sauce, this stew would be very similar to a Thai Root Veg Stew I have made many times.

Clean Eating May/June 2009:
Couscous with Seven Vegetables

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp Moroccan spice blend (or combine cinnamon, ginger, tumeric, black pepper, allspice, cuman and coriander)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and large-diced
2 small turnips, peeled and large-diced
1 medium zucchini, large diced
2 carrots, large diced
1/4 head cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup green beans, cut in thirds
1/2 to 1 tsp. Harissa or chili sauce
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chickpeas, pre-cooked or canned, rinsed and drained
16 oz. white fish (tilapia, haddock or sole), cut into chunks*
1 1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in large stockpot over medium heat. Cook garlic and spice mix until brown, then add next five ingredients. Add enough water to just cover vegetables. Cover and cook 25-30 minutes, until vegetables are soft but not fully cooked. Add pepper, beans, Harissa and salt. Cook another 10 to 15 minutes, until tender.

Ladle out 3 cups of broth and vegetables (1 1/2 cups of each). Puree in blender until thick. Add back to stew.

Mix in raisins (prunes were awesome) and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and place fish on top of mixture (don't mix in, because fish will beak up.) Cook, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish flakes easilly with a fork. Fish will steam on top.

While fish is cooking, boil 1 1/2 cup water. Remove from heat, add couscous and cover. Set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. To serve, place 1/2 cup couscous in bowl. Pour 1 cup vegetable-fish mixture over top and sprinkle with 1 tbsp. cilantro.

Per 1/2 cup couscous and 1 cup stew, including 2 oz fish:
Calories: 260
Fat: 3.5 g
Carbs: 40 g
Fiber: 8 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 19 g
Sodium: 310 mg
Cholesterol: 35 mg

* I love almost all seafood, even crazy stuff like pickled herring and eel (unagi...yummmm) but to me tilapia is the least pleasant fish around. Every instance I've eaten tilapia it's tasted like dirt, literally. I know it's the "loaves and fishes" fish, I know it's a relatively responsible seafood choice (apparently growing tilapia is much less harmful than farmed salmon aquaculture) but to me it's the boneless, skinless chicken breast of the sea (and sadly that's not a complement).

When a super healthy food is so devoid of flavor (or worse, has a slight bottom-feeder flavor) that only wrapping it in bacon and sauteing the whole package in butter could possibly make it palatable, what is the point? But perhaps I am being too harsh on tilapia. Maybe the several times I've eaten the fish were not representative. Is anyone out there a tilapia fan? Or have other people noticed the muddy flavor thing too?