In a previous episode, I made two big jars of preserved lemons, and it’s way past time to do something with them. This is pretty much the canonical preserved lemon recipe. It’s often called chicken tagine, which isn’t a recipe but the traditional pot it’s cooked in. Any large heavy covered skillet or stewpot will do.
Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon
serves 4. This is the NY Times recipe; I added extra spices, see notes.
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon saffron threads, pulverized
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 chicken, cut in 8 pieces
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 medium onions, sliced thin
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 calamata olives, pitted and halved
- 8 cracked green olives, pitted and halved
- 1 large or 3 small preserved lemons (sold in specialty food shops)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley [or cilantro]
Preparation
- Mix garlic, saffron, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric together. If not using kosher chicken, add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add pepper to taste. Rub chicken with mixture, cover, refrigerate and marinate 3 to 4 hours. [I’m cheap and skipped the saffron. I forgot to get cinnamon stick so I added ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon here. I also used a whole teaspoon of cumin and added ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves. Black pepper “to taste” should be at least ½ teaspoon.]
- 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. Add cinnamon stick.
- Put chicken on onions. Scatter with olives. Quarter the lemons, remove pulp and cut skin in strips. Scatter over chicken. Mix stock and lemon juice. Pour over chicken.
- Cover tagine or skillet. Place over low heat, and cook about 30 minutes, until chicken is done. Scatter cilantro or parsley on top, and serve.
Traditionally served with couscous.
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I used 7 quarters of my homemade lemons, and next time time I’ll use more, the flavor isn’t that strong after removing the pulp.
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