Abu Dhabi GP 2020: Prune and Turnip Tagine

I can’t believe we’ve reached the end! Another year of F1 racing, watching, and cooking are in the books. 

I always enjoy the end of the Sky broadcast of the final race of the F1 season for the season-in-review moments. Each of the team share their favorite moments and there is always plenty to laugh about and recall. Some favorite moments of mine were ‘last lap Lando’, Gasly’s win, and Lewis’s comeback win in Germany. Of course I was also so glad to see Romain not just survive but walk aways from his terrible accident, and see the drivers and other team members who contracted covid get healthy again. I also loved that this season mixed up the racetracks and we found some drivers more skilled than others in navigating the changes. I enjoyed cooking for three Italian races, Portugal, and Turkey. I did miss China, Canada, and Mexico though, looking forward to getting back to some familiar tracks, but also hopeful that the F1 big-wigs see the benefit of mixing up the calendar! 

Looking forward to taking a breath from all the racing and cooking. My cooking plan for the next few weeks is to make lots of bread and soup and live off that until Spring comes around and we can get back to eating fresh veggies and racing again!

I wish you Happy Holidays, some rest and rejuvenation, and health for this New Year. Hopefully we will all get to get back into the world soon and continue to take care of each other. Best wishes! 

For this race, I decided to make a vegetable tagine served with a garden salad and bulgur and quinoa. I was given this beautiful tagine for the holidays last year, and have been looking for a good reason to use it. This seemed like the perfect occassion.

Prune and Turnip Tagine

Adapted from The Washington Post

2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter or ghee (or more olive oil)
12 small shallots, peeled but left whole or 6 medium-large shallots sliced in half
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 ½  lbs turnips (about 7 or 8 baby turnips or 2 large turnips)
3 carrots
1 ¼ cups vegetable stock
¼ tsp saffron or ½ tsp smoked paprika
10 oz soft pitted prunes (or dry prunes, soaked in hot water for 30 mins)
1 Tbsp honey
salt and black pepper 

To garnish:
1Tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted
1 Tbsp flaked almonds, toasted
big handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F
2. Heat the oil and ghee in a frying pan or stove-safe tagine, and toss in the shallots, stirring them to cook evenly. After a few minutes, add the spices, turnips, and carrots. Let it cook gently for a few minutes more and then add the saffron (or paprika) and vegetable stock. When the mixture comes to a boil, add the prunes and honey, stir and add salt and pepper.
3. At this stage transfer everything to your tagine pot or casserole, put the lid on and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes.
4. Serve, sprinkled with sesame seeds, almonds, and cilantro. Serve with couscous, quinoa, or bread and a bright salad.