Lazy New Year's Eve Dinner -- Blessing the New TAGINE!!!

We were staying at a guest house on the Demetria Vineyard that has a mostly furnished kitchen, but definitely doesn't have all the tools we are used to having so we always have to go with the flow and have an adventure when we cook there.  We sipped their lovely wine as we cooked and just enjoyed the New Year's Eve ride with our new friend:

The new member of our cooking family: Tommy Tagine!  We got him at Sur La Table.  He was the last one on the shelf, perhaps the runt of the litter but we loved him immediately and had to take him home. 

So, we started with this recipe from the book TAGINE SPICY STEWS FROM MOROCCO by Ghillie Basan which we also got at Sur La Table.  I found tons of amazing recipes online for future Tagine Tommy meals but Aaron really wanted to make this recipe, so I let him have at it.

I was his sous chef and I cooked up the supporting cast -- Smashed Cumin Potatoes and Salad with Cumin Roasted Garbanzos.   I made these last two things up but they came out really delicious, if I do say so myself.

Cumin Smashed Potatoes = New Potatoes smashed with olive oil and butter (not a ton of either), chopped Italian parsley, a couple tablespoons of Preserved Lemon, probably a couple teaspoons -- maybe a tablespoon of Cumin, salt, pepper....DELICIOSA!

Cumin Garbanzo Salad = Mixed fresh lettuces, lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper and Roasted Garbanzos (drain and rinse can of garbanzos, let them dry, then toss with cumin, salt, pepper and olive oil in 350 to 400 degree oven -- watch them to not overcook)

Dessert was VERY LAZY because any time we are in Los Olivos the ONLY DESSERT to eat is wine-infused cupcakes from ENJOY CUPCAKES.  Oh my god if you are ever in the vicinity or can afford to have them ship you a batch, I highly recommend that you do so without a second's hesitation.  Unbelievable light rich moist cakes with not-too-sweet rich lovely filling and again not-too-sweet flavorful divine frostings.  And, they are gorgeous!

It was a magical way to bring in the New Year! 

We are looking very forward to a lovely year with Tommy Tagine.  You guys, the unbelievable news is that you use barely any fat in cooking these tagine recipes....and they are so incredibly flavorful and nurturing.  But, more than that -- they LOOK GREAT -- colorful, colorful, colorful!

Buon Moroccan Appetito!

Lazy New Year's Eve

Happy Almost New Year!

We made reservations months ago for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  We're renting a little house in the middle of a vineyard in Los Olivos (inland from Santa Barbara in the Santa Ynez Valley).  It has a fully equipped kitchen so we are going to stay in and cook up a storm with our new tagine on New Year's Eve and then we're goin to dine at Petros, the most amazing restaurant in Los Olivos with Greek-fusion food.  We once stayed at Fess Parker Inn.  Petros is their restaurant and we cancelled our previously made reservations at another restaurant because we stopped to have a glass of wine and some hors d'oeuvres and were blown away.  Breakfast was outrageously amazing too.  We ended up eating all but one meal there over a couple of days because it was so deliciosa!

As excited as I am about Petros, I'm pretty excited to get the tagine goin'!  I've been to Morocco a couple times in the last couple years and was blown away by all the tagine dishes.   As a pescatarian, there are so many amazing recipes out there, including these two: 

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/moroccan-fish-tagine-with-tomatoes-olives-and-preserved-lemons

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Root-Vegetable-Tagine-with-Sweet-Potatoes-Carrots-Turnips-and-Spice-Roasted-Chickpeas-361252

In preparing for these two recipes I found out how easy it is to make your own preserved lemons!  I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooove preserved lemons -- thanks to my Morocco trips.  I can't wait to start jarring these up.  What a great lazy gift too!

Will post pics of the dinner when we get back!

Happy New Year to all!