Moroccan Beef Meatball Tagine

I've already mentioned how we needed to branch out from the more traditional uses of ground beef (at least, traditional in my house). Last night, P made the Moroccan Beef Meatball Tagine from the recent Bon Appetit issue. A few substitutions had to be made - we'd run out of panko, so he used some homemade breadcrumbs I had in the freezer, and I couldn't find our cinnamon sticks anywhere, and neither of us are fond of raisins in most things - but the dish was a nice change from the ordinary, and made enough for leftovers for a few days. 

One make-ahead tip that wasn't included in the recipe, but that we needed because I had forgotten to buy onions this week - the meatball mixture can be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator for the next day. This may seem like a "duh" tip, but many recipes don't point this kind of thing out, so a meal like this seems like it will take hours to prepare. Taken in pieces - meatball mix one day, stew the next, and maybe even finishing it a third day with the spinach - it's not so daunting.