Menu:
Chicken Tagine
Herbed Basmati Rice
We saw this prepared on TV, and we were intrigued by the combination of flavors. A Moroccan tagine is a slow-cooked stew typically made with tougher cuts of lamb or chicken, olives, preserved lemons, and herbs. The slow cooking process is used to tenderize these tough meats. This is typically made in a clay pot called a tagine. They can be purchased in specialty kitchen stores. We don't have one, so we used our dutch oven.
We used chicken thighs for our tagine. The chicken marinates for 24 hours in garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika, grated onion, and the pulp from preserved lemons. You can by preserved lemons in some speciality food stores, but we made our own by cooking lemon wedges with salt and water in a 250 degree oven for three hours. These can be kept in the refrigerator for six months. The chicken cooks in water, parsley, cilantro, and saffron (which we love!). You add the chopped green Moroccan olives and the peel from the preserved lemons. We served this over basmati rice with cilantro and parsley. It was delicious!
