So there I was, market day and casually strolling from one stall to another listening to merchants plying their trade, when suddenly I had an epiphany – perhaps it was the North African heat, I don’t know. But I started thinking seriously about food – more than I normally do.  Stand ready everyone – I am presenting a double barrelled vegetarian  meal starting with a wonderfully fresh salad of leeks in a vinaigrette sauce followed with a tasty vegetable tagine. No beef or chicken, no pork or veal? Prolonged exposure to the sun will do strange things to a man. I suppose I’m doing my pied noir “cooking thing” as I recently ran across a some interesting French North African cuisine. I could hardly cook alone so I have decided to share with those of you brave enough to have embarked on this cooking cruise across France and Outre-Mer.

Tagine de Légumes

Ingredients:
3 large potatoes, diced
3 carrots, diced
3 sticks of celery, diced
4-6 cloves of garlic
3 courgettes (aka zucchini), peeled and diced
2 onions, chopped
1 mild chili, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt and crapped pepper

Directions:
Bring 2 pints of salted water to boil, then add the potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic and one of the onions.
Cook, uncovered, over a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes by the vegetables should be pleasingly tender. Five minutes before the other vegetables are done, add the courgettes.
While the vegetables are cooking, gently fry up the second onion and the chili in an uncovered tagine and when your onion is translucent, after 5 or 6 minutes, add the cumin, parsley, salt and pepper.
When your vegetables are tender, transfer them under armed guard to the tagine and cook the combined vegetables for 10 minutes over moderate heat so that the sauce thickens, adding a little more salt and pepper to taste. Voila!
Poireaux Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
8 leeks, washed and trimmed
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Sea salt and coarse ground pepper
Directions:
Boil the leeks in salted water, in a covered pan for 10 minutes, then drained, cooled and arranged on a serving dish. Sprinkle with parsley and garlic.
To make the sauce, vigorously mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper.
Serve the dish slightly warm, doused in the vinaigrette
Now about those wines…
All of these should pair very nicely with both dishes. All are red because, well because I wanted to that’s why. But certainly a chilled Picpoul blanc would go well as would a chilled Rose de Provence.  
Château du Cèdre Cahors Red Wine 2006 – Cahors, from Southwest France, is a powerful red wine, often harsh when young but remarkable after a few years in bottle. Or maybe just after a few bottles.
Chateau Puech–Haut Coteaux de Languedoc Saint-Drezery Prestige Rouge from the Languedoc-Roussillon region
Perrin et Fils Cotes du Rhone Villages Rouge 2007
El Bordj – Coteaux de Mascara 2004 red wine from Algeria 

“Boulaouane” red wine from Morocco