Beef and Quince Tagine

Serves 6 to 8 people. Take 4 hours

We went to Fez in Morocco over Christmas 2007, and one of the treats we gave ourselves was a day's cooking lessons in Riad Laroussa (see Links), a very fine hotel in the centre of Fez's Medina. This is one of the dishes we learnt that day, a fragrant, flavoursome, sophisticated, spicey, fruity dish; real slooooowwww food, you can leave it bubbling away and get on with other things

If you want to freeze this lovely dish, there is a slightly quirky method involved. Assuming you'll be freezing it in 500ml containers; once it has cooled, and you're ready to put it into the freezer, cut some big chunks of ginger, say a thumb sized piece per 500mls. Then split each piece in two, and put two bits, and half a stick of cinnamon, into each 500ml container full of tagine. When you've defrosted the tagine, leave the ginger and cinnamon in while you reheat it. The quince element does freeze well, and keeps its flavour. Raw quinces, whole, also freeze well, though it softens them up a bit, so the cooking time will be shorter by about 25%

The perfect thing to go with this lovely dish is quinoa. Its nutty, slightly grassy flavour, and chewy, slightly couscous-y texture work incredibly well with the stew and quince, and it is of course a superb 'superfood', high in protein, iron, phosphorus and magnesium, and also very good indeed for dietary fibre

The beef element

1.2kg stewing beef cut into 2.5cm squares

2 heaped tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cinnamon sticks

3 medium onions, finely sliced

8 strands of saffron

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 litre Vegetable Nage or Stock

salt and pepper

The quince element

2 large quinces, cleaned and quartered

half tbsp butter or ghee

1 tbsp caster sugar (you may need more according to taste)

half dspn ground cinnamon

To serve

250g dry quinoa will serve about 6 people

• Put a third of the onions, the beef and cinnamon, turmeric and ginger into a large cooking pot. Add 100mls of page, put the lid on and bring to a gentle bubble. After 10 minutes add a further third of the onions, and the remaining nage. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for an hour with the lid firmly in place. Alternatively, you can transfer it to a large lidded casserole dish and place in a low oven
• Then add the last of the onions and the saffron, and cook for two more hours. After this time, the beef should be melting, and the onions mostly reduced to make a thickish, plentiful gravy
• Meanwhile, put the quinces, a good pinch of salt and enough cold water to just cover the quinces in another pan, put the lid on, and bring to the boil. Simmer very gently for 20 minutes
• Then add the sugar, butter and cinnamon and stir in gently - try not to break up the fruit. Cook until almost all the juice is absorbed or reduced and the fruit is soft, this is usually a further 20 minutes but very much varies according to the variety of quince that you are using. Set aside
• To cook the quinoa, rinse very well in a sieve under a tap, put in a smallish saucepan, and add 375mls water. Bring to the boil, turn down to a gentle simmer, and bubble for 15 to 20 minutes, until it's translucent, but still has a firm bite to it, and the water has almost all evaporated. Drain well
• Scatter the beef with sesame seeds and serve in the pot or casserole; serve the quince in the other pan, with the quinoa on the side, and let your guests serve themselves