Potatoes with Fennel, Preserved Lemon and Olives

Ingredients

• 1 lb. yukon gold potatoes.  (I used small roasters, unpeeled and halved).
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 stalks of celery chopped
• 1 bulb of fennel sliced like the onions.
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 preserved lemon chopped fine*
• 12 green or purple olives pitted and sliced (I use a mix.)
• pinch of saffron bloomed in 2 tbsp hot water. (optional, but so good.)*
• Handful of fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven.
2. Saute the onion, fennel, and celery in the olive oil until translucent and starting to brown on the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the potatoes and garlic and stir until you can smell the garlic.
4. Add the olives, lemon, and saffron stir.
5. Add 3/4 C. water or stock
6. Bake in a covered dutch oven for 45 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven, stir. Water should be evaporated, potatoes tender. Stir in the chopped herbs. Serve warm or cold.

Cook’s notes:

The preserved lemons and olives bring a lot of salt with them. I didn’t have to add any.

This is a mashup of two recipes from one of my favorite cookbooks from Claudia Roden, Arabesque.  It is not a vegan cookbook, but it does use lots of vegetables and it is beautiful to read and practical to use. If you’re interested in learning more about middle eastern food she’s an amazing teacher, and this book talks a lot about the food culture in different countries. The recipes I draw from are a simple one for potato, fennel and celery mezze, and a recipe for tagine of chicken with lemon and olives. The chicken recipe is my favorite, most decadent comfort food, and I keep trying to come up with a vegan version that is as satisfying as creamy, lemony onions dissolving in the sticky chicken fat from chicken thighs. This is the closest I’ve come. Much lighter than the chicken tagine, equally good hot or cold.

*Preserved lemons are the simplest thing: lemons, salt, time. Here’s a “recipe”. Make them.  (They need to sit about a month.)

*Real saffron is expensive. Don’t let it keep you from making this recipe. Skip it. Use a 1/2 tsp of annato, or tumeric. Either will add the pretty yellow and a little earthiness. Not the same as the saffron, but tasty. I’ve used both when I didn’t have saffron for the chicken.