A traditional Moroccan dish of chicken chunks stewed with spices, garlic, onions, olives and preserved lemon. Cooked in tagines.
A few years ago I bought a tagine, an earthenware cooking and serving pot common in North Africa, to experiment with.
Have you ever tried to cook with tajine? Or another type of clay pot?
A tagine used on a stovetop gives you that wonderfully slow, even cooking that you would ordinarily get from an oven pot roast. The conical top returns moisture to the food underneath, and when the dish is ready you can serve it straight from the pot.
My first attempt at cooking with the tagine was with this Moroccan chicken dish, which came out wonderful – juicy, tender, and full of flavor.
I compiled the recipe from various sources including The New York Times, The New Basics Cookbook, and recipes from Le Souk Ceramique, the maker of my tagine.
Lemon preserves have traditionally been a hit with this dish (very easy to make, btw, all you need are lemons, salt and time), and I think it’s worth making just for this dish. But if you don’t have one, you can easily use thin slices of a regular lemon.
Also, you don’t necessarily have to use a tagine to make this dish; Just use a large, shallow, heavy-bottomed pan with a lid.
With couscous or without?
Traditionally, tajines in Morocco are not served with couscous or rice. They would be served with bread to soak up the thick sauce. However, rice or couscous make a wonderful non-traditional accompaniment to this recipe.
Cooking with preserved lemon
Preserved lemon is a unique ingredient that is very salty and very lemony at the same time. There is nothing like it. This recipe instructs you to rinse off the preserved lemon, but most Moroccan cooks wouldn’t do that as it rinses off some of the flavor as well. You can choose not to rinse the preserved lemon, but if you do, use a lighter hand to season this dish with salt.
GET THE RECIPE:
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Moroccan Chicken with Lemon and Olives
This recipe shines with preserved lemons. If you don’t have one, you can use thin slices of a regular or Meyer lemon, and you’ll probably end up adding quite a bit of salt to the dish.
If you’re using a tagine, you’ll likely need to soak it in water overnight before subjecting it to the heat of the oven. This will prevent the tagine from tearing.
ingredients
-
2 teaspoon paprika
-
1 teaspoon ground cumin
-
1 teaspoon ground ginger
-
1 teaspoon turmeric
-
1/2 teaspoon Cinammon
-
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
-
2 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
-
1 chicken3 to 4 pounds, cut into 8 pieces (or 3 to 4 pounds just chicken thighs and drumsticks, the dark meat is flavorier)
-
Salt
-
3 cloves garlicchopped
-
1 Onionchopped
-
the bark from 1 preserved lemonrinsed in cold water, pulp removed, zest cut into thin strips (if you don’t have a preserved lemon, use whole thin slices of a regular lemon)
-
1 Cup green olives, gutted
-
1/2 Cup raisins
-
1/2 Cup water
-
1/4 Cup chopped fresh coriander
-
1/4 Cup freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
method
-
Marinate chicken in spice rub:
Combine all the spices – paprika, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper – in a large bowl.
Pat the chicken pieces dry and place in the bowl, brushing well with the spice mixture. Leave the chicken in the spices for an hour.
-
Brown Chicken Chunks in Tagine or Skillet:
If you’re using a clay tagine (if you have one, be sure to soak the base in water overnight before using), place it on a heat diffuser on the heating element to prevent the tagine from cracking, and give that Add olive oil to tagine and heat over medium-high.
If you don’t have a tagine, you can use a large, heavy-bottomed pan with a lid. Heat the olive oil in the pan over medium heat.
In either case, very lightly salt the chicken pieces (salt gently, the olives and preserved lemons are salty) and place skin-side down in the tagine or pan for 5 minutes, until lightly browned.
-
Add garlic and onions, cover and cook:
Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and onions over the chicken. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
-
Add lemon, olives, raisins, water, then cover and let simmer:
Turn chicken pieces over. Add the lemon slices, olives, raisins and 1/2 cup water.
Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook another 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and fairly tender.
-
Stir in the parsley and coriander:
Mix in fresh parsley and coriander just before serving. Adjust the spices to taste.
Serve with couscous, rice or rice pilaf.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 718 | calories |
| 51g | Fat |
| 16g | carbohydrates |
| 48g | protein |
