Oven tagine with potatoes, fennel and sumac

When I think of a tagine, I picture a juicy stew, slowly cooked and covered with a lid. But this tagine recipe from one of my mother's cookbooks is nothing of the sort, therefore it could also be prepared in an ordinary oven dish. The advantage of using a tagine is that it can be placed on the stove first, in order to sauté the vegetables, and afterwards you can put it into the oven without having to transfer the food from a pan to an oven tray. Moreover, I like the way vegetables cook faster in ceramics. I don't remember if my version of this tagine resembles the original, but I always make it this way and each time eating it is a true treat! Ingredients, serves 2-3 - two big fennel bulbs, halved and sliced in 1 cm wedges - about 700g organic potatoes, cut into pieces of 2,5cm - 1 big onion, roughly sliced - a bunch of flat leaved parsley, finely chopped - 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar - salt, sumac and black pepper to taste - extra vergine olive oil Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius. Place the bottom of a family tagine on the stove over low heat. Add about 5 tablespoons of olive oil and wait patiently until it is hot enough to add the onions and fennel. It is really important that you don't turn up the heat too quickly when working with the tagine, or the sudden temperature rise could crack it. Sauté the onions and fennel for a few minutes, then add the potatoes and continue cooking until the fennel starts to brown a little. Season with salt and put it in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. If you have the fan option on your oven, then you could turn it on for the last five minutes of the baking time, in order to give the vegetables a crunchy top, if they don't have it already. Remove the tagine from the oven, add the balsamic vinegar and black pepper, sprinkle with parsley and sumac and serve hot. Enjoy!