Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash

When I first flipped through the January/February issue of Cooking Light, the recipe for Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash really stuck out. We had a few butternut squashes to use, and this looked like a good way to use them.

A tagine is traditionally a Moroccan dish, named for the pot in which it is cooked. Tagines are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures resulting in tender meat and aromatic vegetables and sauce.

The recipe was really easy and pretty quick. The hardest part is peeling and cutting the butternut squash. We followed the recipe exactly except that we used veggie brother rather than chicken broth (just because it's what we had). I didn't use fresh cilantro, either--I didn't want to buy a huge bunch of it for only 1/4 cup. The recipe says it's four servings, but it turned into 5 for us (it's usually the other way around! We usually eat a four-serving meal in one sitting!). The squash cooked a lot faster than I thought it would--within 10 minutes the squash was pretty soft and after the 15 minutes, the squash was kind of mushy. But it was still very tasty!

We also made the scallion couscous that was at the end of the recipe. Here's what we did for that:

Bring 3/4 cup fat-free lower-sodium chicken (we used veggie) broth and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Gradually stir in 1 cup uncooked couscous. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in 1/3 cup chopped green onions. (I love couscous--it's so easy, quick and good for you.)