I received a lovely gift from my sister-in-law when she came to visit a couple of weeks ago. Firstly let me say this is not my first tagine recipe that I have blogged about. However because of my sister-in-law this is the first one in an actual Tagine.

What a unique cooking vessel. Not unlike a cast iron pan that you must first season before using, the Tagine needs a little attention ahead of time as well. Both pieces need to be completely submerged in water for 6 hours up to 24 hours. Then you need to dry them off and let them sit for an hour, take 3 tablespoons of olive oil and rub into the base and inside of the lid. Then you place both pieces; separately in a cold oven and turn on to 350’F and let them bake for 2 hours.

I know quite the process, up side is you only have to do this process once as long as you use your tagine again within 6 months. The consensus from the fam is we want to explore more Moroccan food. The aroma and flavors are warm and inviting so flavorful.

I do have to admit my first go around with the this recipe could have gone a lot smoother had I read the recipe myself. We had all had a very stressful day/week and had the chicken marinating over night so we were making this dish with not a lot of time. My daughter read me the directions and I followed. It took way longer than it should have, it was still delicious but I was not thrilled; it just added even more stress to my day. So I will tell you here to brown your chicken and the onions in a frying pan before adding to the Tagine to finish the job. It will go much more smoothly for you.

Chicken Tagine with Olive and Preserved Lemons

dclarkabal

A warm your belly dish that fills your home with a wonderful aroma

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Course dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Moroccan

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• Tagine
• Frying pan

Ingredients

  

• 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon saffron threads pulverized or steeped in water as we did
• ½ teaspoon ground Ginger
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 chicken thighs or you can cut up a whole chicken and use all the pieces
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 medium onions sliced thin
• 1 cinnamon stick we didn't do this, this time around
• 8 green olives pitted and halved
• 8 kalamata Olives pitted and halved, we didn't have on hand
• 1 large preserved lemon quartered, pulp removed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup chicken stock
• ½ lemon juiced
• 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped for garnish

Instructions

 

• Mix garlic, saffron, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric together plus a 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt. Add pepper to taste. Rub chicken with mixture, cover, refrigerate and marinate 3 hours to overnight
• Heat oil in heavy skillet. Add chicken, and brown on all sides. Remove to platter. Add onions to skillet, and cook over medium-low heat about 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to tagine, if you are using one, or leave in skillet. If using add the cinnamon stick
• Put chicken on onions. Scatter with olives. Quarter the lemons, remove pulp and cut skin in strips. Scatter over chicken. Mix stock with the lemon juice. Pour over chicken.
• Cover tagine or skillet. Place over low heat, and cook about 30 minutes, until chicken is done. Scatter parsley on top, and serve

Keyword Chicken, olives, preserved lemon, Tagine