Tagine of Chicken, Preserved Lemon, & Olives

Rita~'s Note:

Iv'e been craving this since going to DC to meet others from zaar.We went to a place called the taste of Morocco. I found this recipe on line. Serve chicken, covered with sauce, over Couscous or Rice. Have Green Tea with Mint with or after the meal. This Tagine -- the word, also spelled Tajine, refers both to the cooking pot as well as a stew cooked in it -- is one of dozens of classic tagines prepared in Northern Africa, especially Morocco. The tagine consists of two parts: a round pot (traditionally clay), and a conical cover with a small hole which allows some steam to escape. A large dutch oven or something similar can also be used. Check out "the right place for Tagines": www.tagines.com.http://www.congocookbook.com/c0096.html

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 -4 cloves garlic , minced
• olive oil , for pan-frying chicken and mixing marinade (or any oil)
• 1 -2 chicken , cut into serving sized pieces (or similar amount of chicken breasts)

Spices

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
• 1 cinnamon sticks or 3 -5 pinches ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon coriander (optional)
• 2 onions , finely chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth or 2 cups chicken stock (or water)
• 1 cup green olives
• 2 preserved lemons , cut into slices (see recipe I have posted)
• salt , to taste

Directions:

1. Mix the garlic, some black pepper, and a spoonful of oil.
2. Rub the chicken with the mixture and set aside for a few hours or overnight.
3. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven (or tagine cooking pot, if you have one).
4. Fry the chicken until all sides begin to brown.
5. Add spices.
6. (The black pepper, ginger, and saffron are most typical. If you have no saffron, consider one or two of the optional spices, which can be added according to you liking.) Add onions.
7. Stir-fry over high heat for a few minutes.
8. Add chicken broth, stock, or water.
9. Bring to broil.
10. Reduce heat.
11. Cover, but leave a crack for steam to escape.
12. Simmer over low heat for thirty minutes or more.
13. Add olives and preserved lemons.
14. Add salt and adjust seasoning.
15. Continue to simmer.
16. Remove chicken and set aside.
17. If necessary, bring sauce to boil, stirring continuously, until thickened.

Reviews

[discriminating tastes...]

Delicious- ending up tasting very similar to curry chicken from my native home of Trinidad. We don't like olives so I omitted and just added a spicy Olive Muffalata relish from That Pickle Guy brand at the end for some spice and a little olive flavor (this muffalata is very hot & spicy). Without it, the sauce would have been too bland for our tastes in terms of spicy-ness. That's just us though. If it weren't that, we would've added a little habanero..lol. I upped the recipe to 16 servings since we had 3 lbs of chicken. That called for about 3 cups of chicken broth but it ended up being way too watery (I couldn't imagine making this with water over broth). So I had to add another serving of the spices to mix in and I actually had to simmer down the sauce for about 1.5 hours. I just kept checking on it until the sauce tasted right. By then, the chicken is broken up and soft. It came out more like pulled chicken the more I stirred. I also didn't use the preserves. I just added fresh lemon juice to taste and a little salt to taste since my chicken broth was the full sodium version. Definitely will be a staple. I just had to play with the spices to get it to the flavor we like. I'm giving a 4 because the sauce was watery and next time I make it I'll have to add even more spices because it still needed more. I recommend you taste it as you go to determine just how much spice is need.

[Mom2Rose]

ZWT6: This recipe definitely tickled the tastebuds!! Delicious Rita!

[Elisa72]

Just wonderful! Made exactly according to the recipe using the saffron, cumin and turmeric and omitting the other optional ingredients and using preserved lemons. The whole family gave it two thumbs up. Easy to make with complicated and delicious flavor!