 |
| Chicken tagine with preserved lemons, green olives and artichokes, served with saffron and pistachio couscous. |
I regret that I never ticked Morocco off my travel bucket-list, before I left Europe . I love North African food. Luckily when I smell this tagine cooking, I can close my eyes and conjure up the bustling souks of Marrakech and Essaouira. I’ll get there one day and until then I have my heavily perfumed dreams.
I made preserved lemons recently; you can read that recipe here. They take a month to mature, if you can’t wait that long you can buy preserved lemons at some supermarkets and most delis. You really do need this ingredient, don’t try and substitute regular lemon rind, it’s just not the same thing.
Serves 4.
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 kgs skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 preserved lemon, pulp discarded, rind cut into thin strips
1 cup pitted green olives
1 cup of artichoke hearts in olive oil (quartered)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
METHOD
If you are using a clay tagine, you must soak the bottom in water overnight before using, and then put a heat diffuser on your element to stop it from cracking. I find this all a bit fussy and my tagine is too small anyway, so I use a thick-bottomed stockpot, with a lid.
Combine all the spices in a large bowl. Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towel and cut into quarters. Put the chicken in the bowl, coat well with the spice mixture and let stand for at least 1 hour.
Heat the oil on a medium-high heat and place the chicken pieces in to brown for 5 minutes. Do this in batches if you need to, as you do not want to over crowd the pan and sweat the chicken. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and onions over the chicken. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes.
Turn chicken pieces over. Add the lemon slices, olives, artichoke, and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a simmer on medium heat. If you are making the tagine in advance you can take it off the heat now, cover and leave it to finish off when you are ready, otherwise continue directly with the next step.
Turn the heat back to low, cover, and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and quite tender. Mix in the fresh parsley and coriander right before serving. Taste and add salt and black pepper if required.
Serve with Saffron and pistachio cous cous.
I have my own method for cooking couscous and it has always given me fluffy, well flavoured couscous with no fuss. It really is the easiest thing in the world.
1.5 cups couscous
¼ tsp ground cumin
5 threads of saffron
Handful sultanas
Handful pistachio nuts
1 clove garlic
Juice of half a lemon
Black pepper
Olive oil.
Put the couscous, cumin, saffron, sultanas, and pistachio nuts into a bowl. Crush a clove of garlic and add the pulp to the bowl. Combine the lemon juice with equal part olive oil and pour this mix over the rest of the ingredients. Take a fork and mix the lot together, so that each grain of couscous is ‘dressed’ in the mix. I find a mix and chop motion the best.
Boil the kettle and cover the couscous with enough boiling water so that there is just a thin layer of water floating on top, covering the couscous; this will quickly absorb but don’t add more. Cover the couscous and set aside until you are ready to use it. It’s THAT easy.
When you are ready to use the couscous, remove the cover and using a fork ‘fluff’ the grains, making sure you get the fork all the way to the bottom of the bowl and chop up any lumps.
Taste, and add more lemon juice, olive oil, salt or pepper as required, then simply clean the sides of your bowl and dress the top with coriander leaves and if your feeling fancy some pomegranate seeds.
 |
| Saffron and Pistachio Couscous. |
No comments:
Post a Comment