Lemon Moroccan Chicken

Submitted by Chef floWer

"If you enjoy lemon flavours then you may like this dish. I tried it with chicken breast but I always come back to drumsticks as it adds a lot of flavour into the dish. I normally remove the skin from the drumstick as I watch our families fat intake but feel free to leave it on. It’s hard for me to regularly find coriander so unless I can I just leave it out. Baking time can varies depending the size/thickness of the drumsticks. I normally bake them between 1.5 hours to 1 hour 45 minutes. This recipe comes from a book called 'Meals Without Red Meat' by Simon and Allison Holst."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 3 -4 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon, juice of, fresh
• 8 pieces chicken drumsticks
• 1 fresh lemon, cut lengthways into eighths
• 15 -20 black olives
• 2 tablespoons coriander leaves

directions

1. Chop the onion and garlic finely, using a food processor, (if avaiable). Add the next seven ingredients (olive oil, tomato paste, ground cumin, ground paprika, ground ginger, salt and lemon juice) and mix to a thick paste.
2. Place the chicken in a shallow casserole dish and cover with paste mixture. Turn the chicken pieces, ensuring they are evenly coated with the mixture. Add the remaining lemon, cut lengthways into eighths, and the olives.
3. If possible, allow to stand for 1-2 hours (or overnight in the fridge). Bake at 180oC for 1 hour, covered loosely for the first 30 minutes, then uncovered.
4. Serve with plain rice or spicy pilaf.
5. Sprinkle coriander once the dish has been served in single serving plates.
6. Variations: For a less lemoney flavour use strips of lemon rind instead of lemon wedges. Replace lemon wedges with the skin of one preserved salted lemon, if availabe.

Reviews

[Sooty_Cat]

I really like this dish. The flavours were lovely and the marinade made a very nice accompaniment to the chicken. I served it with roasted baby eggplant and sliced red and yellow capsicums, which I put in the dish with the chicken as it was roasting. There are only two things I would say that would improve this dish is a little bit of heat; first, perhaps next time I'll add some cayenne pepper to the marinade, as many Moroccan dishes do have some kick to them. Also, a nice dollop of plain, Greek-style yoghurt on top of the chicken would be lovely and help to balance the spiciness of the chicken. There will definitely be a next time for this dish, thanks so much for posting a new way to cook a tasty chicken dinner.

 

[berry271]

We enjoyed but would probably prefer with chicken breast instead of the drumsticks. Flavor was good and my husband didn't mind the black olives, which he usually avoids.

 

[TasteTester]

This chicken was full of flavor, and I especially loved the taste of the marinade paste -- cumin, ginger, lemon -- terrific combination. I used skin-on chicken legs and marinated them overnight. After cooking the chicken, the skin didn't have much crispiness to it, but I guess I should have removed some of the marinade paste which was still on the top of the legs when I put them in the oven. Next time, I'm going to remove the skin from the chicken legs. That will also let more of the delicious marinade flavor get into the meat. I served this with couscous and some simple roasted vegetables. I'll definitely be making this dish again -- it's a great addition to my chicken recipes.

 

[loof751]

Beautiful chicken dish! I don't care for onions, so instead of pureeing it into the sauce I sliced it and put the slices over and around the chicken with the lemons and olives. I did add 1/4 tsp of cayenne to the marinade mix. I used bone-in, skinless breasts and they were so moist and flavorful. Really loved this - thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[Chill]

This wasn't our family's favorite. I think it was too lemony and I didn't care for the pastey sauce. Sorry!