Black bean and sweet potato tagine

Black beans and sweet potato seem to like each other. The orange of the potato seems brightened against the black backdrop of the beans, while their flavours and consistencies are complementary. This is a very simple dish to make - say 15 minutes preparation time, and then between 45 and 60 minutes to bake. Put the oven on to preheat while you prepare everything else, and it will speed cooking time significantly if you place the empty tagine in the oven as it preheats. While the tagine heats up The VegHead meanwhile lumps all the ingredients into a bowl, which I then just empty into the tagine when ready.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cooked black beans
• 1 medium orange sweet potato - cut a few strips and then dice the rest
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 small preserved lemon, chopped
• 1/2 cup of your favourite olives
• 1 courgette; quarter lengthways and then halve those lengths giving eight slices
• 1/2 tomato, chopped
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon of Ras-El-Hanout
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
  
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• generous amount of olive oil
• (Optional) 1 small tomato, sliced
  

Making:

• Aside from the courgette and the strips of sweet potato, mix all other ingredients and slop into the tagine
• Arrange the courgette and sweet potato slices spoke-like around the top of the tagine, with the skin facing upward. Arrange the tomato slices between the spokes.
  
• Add enough water to almost fill the base of the tagine
• Bake in a hot oven for 60 minutes