Chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives
This tasty tagine has a delicious mix of savory flavors, from herbs to tart lemon. Comforting and flavorful.
Servings: 4
Calories: 664kcal
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Ingredients
- 2 lb chicken thighs bone-in (2lb is approx 5 or 6 thighs)
For marinade
- 1 tablespoon garlic roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon cilantro coriander leaves - leaves only, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon parsley roughly chopped
- ¼ preserved lemon skin part only (discard flesh) - approx 2tsp
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon saffron powder (see notes)
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice approx - around ½ lemon
To cook chicken
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- ½ cup chicken stock or water
To serve
- ¼ cup pitted olives (can use black or green)
- ½ preserved lemon
- 1 tablespoon cilantro coriander (and/or parsley), chopped
Instructions
Ahead of time
- Remove any excess fat and trim any loose pieces of skin from the chicken. Place the chicken in a dish or container that you will use for marinating.
- Add all of the marinade ingredients into a food processor and blend until relatively smooth. If needed, stop and scrape down the sides before blending again to make sure all of the herbs in particular are blended.
- Spread the marinade all over the chicken on both sides, but leave the skin attached. Cover and refrigerate while the chicken marinates for at least 2 hours but overnight if possible.
When ready to cook
- When ready to cook, warm the oil in a Dutch oven or other dish with a lid large enough to hold the chicken in a single layer (a tagine would be ideal) over a medium heat. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion then add this to the pot/dish and soften for a few minutes.
- Add the chicken on top of the onion in a single layer, skin side down initially - you can nestle it down so that it makes contact better with the pan if you like. Once it has gently browned on the first side, turn over and cook another couple of minutes then add the stock/water and bring to a simmer.
- Reduce the heat, cover the dish/pot and leave to simmer for approximately 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
- In the final minutes, prepare the preserved lemon by removing the fleshy part of the lemon and cutting the skin part into thin slices. Finely chop the cilantro and/or parsley.
- Add the olives, preserved lemon and cilantro/parsley either with the chicken and cook another minute or add over the finished dish to serve. Works well served with couscous.
Video
Notes
If you don't have saffron powder but do have stems, you can grind a pinch with a pestle and mortar, or else bloom the saffron in around 1tbsp of water and add this mixture to the marinade mix. IF you have neither, you can omit but it's worth adding if you can.
Nutrition
Calories: 664kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 38g | Fat: 54g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Monounsaturated Fat: 27g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 223mg | Sodium: 644mg | Potassium: 598mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 608IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 2mg
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