Summer Bean and Tomato Tagine

Ingredients

For the tagine

• 1000g tomatoes skinned and deseeded and chopped
• 250g green beans blanched and cut into 2 cm pieces
• 175g podded broad beans blanched and peeled to removetough outer skin
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cardamom seeds
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp runny honey* or light muscovado sugar

FOr the fruity couscous

• 700ml vegetable stock
• 350g couscous
• 1 lemon grated zest only
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 50g flaked almonds lightly toasted
• 75g apricots chopped
• 45g sultanas
• 3 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

To garnish

• 35g toasted walnuts chopped
• 1 medium lemon cut into wedges
• Season to taste

Method

1. Saute the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil until soft before adding the tomatoes and spices. Cook gently until the tomatoes start to break up and then add the puree, the other 2 tbsp oil and a little water if the sauce seems too thick. Season well.
2. Add the green beans and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes until cooked but still crunchy, adding a little water if necessary.
3. Finally stir in the honey and the broad beans and simmer for a further 5 minutes, at which point the sauce should be quite thick.
4. While the tagine is cooking make the fruity couscous. Heat the stock in a large saucepan until boiling. Pour the couscous in and stir in the lemon rind.
5. Remove from the heat, cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous up with a fork – it should absorb all the liquid.
6. Drizzle over the olive oil and fold in the almonds, apricots, sultanas and parsley. Season to taste.
7. Reheat the tagine if necessary and serve with the fruity couscous. Topped with the walnuts and serve the lemon on the side.