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KetoMiddle EasternMoroccan

Preserved Lemon Chicken Tagine

by michelletang118
written by michelletang118

Missing a piece of Morocco lately (more so the hamman you could say). So I thought I’d take out my tagine I bought whilst I was traveling there with my cousin in Jan 2014 (we toured Marrakech, Atlas Mountains, and the Erg Chebbi) and take it out to make a preserved lemon chicken tagine. I still remember how beautiful camping in the Sahara was (climbing on top of the dunes to watch sunrise and sunset) and the graze on my butt the long camel ride gave me! How time flies…

Anyways, since we all can’t travel now due to the covid-19 pandemic, I decided to make a Moroccan dish to “bring me back to Morocco” (if you get what I mean). The preserved lemons I used were home-made (from a friend), but you can easily procure them in a middle eastern store or supermarket (might be harder to find in Asia though).
So this rich and fragant chicken stew is loaded with complex flavours reminiscent of the sort I encountered in the mountainside cafes in Morocco (gosh I miss the Atlas mountains!).  Shall you make this, you will have your kitchen smelling amazing afterwards!

The process is simple. First, you rub the chicken pieces with a redolent combination of garlic, saffron, ground ginger, paprika, cumin, turmeric and black pepper, then pop it into the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours to marinate (or overnight if you prefer). Then you brown the chicken in a saute pan to get the Malliard reaction going. Next you gently sweat the onions in the tagine and one sweated, add the cinnamon stick, chicken pieces, chicken stock, saffron, preserved lemons and olive to the stew. Let it simmer on low heat for half an hour and you are done. Tagines are best – and traditionally served – served with couscous but feel free to mop up the juices with crusty bread.

Preserved Lemon Chicken Tagine

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
Rating: 4.7/5
( 3 voted )

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs (but feel free to use a whole chicken cut into pieces or chicken drumsticks)
  • 8 olives
  • 5 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon of saffron threads, pulverised
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 large preserved lemon, sliced or diced
  • 1 cup of chicken stock
  • 1/2 juice of lemon
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • finely chopped parsley and coriander to garnish

Instructions

  1. Marinade chicken with one tablespoon of olive oil, the garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika and some salt and pepper. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so that the flavours sink in.
  2. Heat a fry pan on medium-high heat and lightly grease. Once the oil gets hot, add the chicken pieces and fry until they brown on both sides. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
  3. Heat the tagine on low heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Throw in the diced onions and sweat for several minutes until the onions turn translucent. Add the cinnamon stick along with the chicken pieces on top of the onions.  Next add the preserved lemons and olives.
  4. In a bowl, combine the saffron with a tablespoon of warm water to fully release the flavours.
  5. Pour the chicken stock and saffron into the tagine to cover the chicken pieces. Close the tagine lid and let it slowly simmer until the chicken cooks through (could take 15-30 minutes depending on how big your pieces are). 
  6. Once the chicken is cooked through, you can remove the tagine lid and garnish the stew with the chopped parsley and/or coriander before serving.

Notes

Note that if you don't have a tagine you can simply use a large saute pan. Feel free to skip the paprika too.

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Gluten-freeMainsMiddle Eastern

Bone-in Chicken Thigh in Tomato Sauce With Green Olives

by michelletang118
written by michelletang118

CHICKEN-LICIOUS | This middle eastern chicken dish is the epitome of “one-pan beauty”.   

Looking to feed a hungry crowd with some irresistable love? Simply please them and satiate even the most discerning palates with this middle-eastern spiced chicken bone-in thigh dish simmered in a tomato sauce and green olives. This dish can be served straight from the pan.

The key to ensure the chicken remains tender? Patience.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 bone-in chicken thighs
  • 8 chicken thighs or 4 whole legs (thighs and drumsticks)
  • 2 tablespoons Baharat Spice Mix
  • 2 tablespoons Ras el Hanout Spice Mix
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 2 onions, thinly diced
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup plain pitted green olives (my favorite are Manzanilla)
  • 8 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 4 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 x 14.5-ounce cans very good-quality chopped tomatoes (get the Italian stuff — they know their tomatoes)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Handful chopped parsley
  • Handful chopped cilantro
  • Crushed rose petals (optional, to garnish)

Baharat spice mix:

  • 4 tablespoons sweet paprika
  • 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon cardamom pods
  • 4 tablespoons toasted cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons toasted coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon allspice berries
  • 1 teaspoon whole cloves

Bone-in Chicken Thigh in Tomato Sauce With Green Olives

Prep time: 10 mins | Cooking time: 30 mins | Total time: 40 mins | Yields: 2 servings

For the chicken
  1. Start by rubbing the chicken with 1 tablespoon each of the Baharat and Ras el Hanout Spice Mixes and some salt, then set aside while you start the sauce. (You can do this the day before, then cover and leave the chicken thighs or legs in the fridge overnight — they’ll be even tastier.)
  2. Heat a wide, shallow pan over a medium heat, add the oils and then the onions and sauté with a pinch of salt and the crushed red pepper flakes for about 10–15 minutes until the onions are nicely caramelized.
  3. While the onions are frying, bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and blanch the olives for 2 minutes. Drain and then repeat this process twice more. Drain for the final time and set them aside.
  4. When the onions have caramelized, add the garlic and sauté for 2–3 more minutes. Meanwhile, heat up a large nonstick pan over a medium heat, add the thighs or legs, skin-side down, and let them crisp up as they slowly render their fat.
  5. Add half the stock (or water) to the onions and garlic. Meanwhile, when the thighs are nice and crisp on the skin side, flip them and sear on the other side as well. Season with a touch of salt and pepper, remove from the pan and leave to rest.
  6. Add the remaining stock to the pan and deglaze it with a wooden spoon, combining the residue from the pan with the onions, garlic and stock. This will add amazing flavor to your sauce. If you’ve gone for the vegetarian version, just add all the vegetable stock to the onions in step 5 and skip from there to step 7.
  7. When the stock has reduced by half (i.e. when you’re left with about 2¼ cups, add the tomatoes, blanched olives, sugar and the rest of the spice mixes. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes.
  8. Add the chicken and simmer for another 20 minutes over a low heat. I like to turn the heat off and let the dish rest for at least 30 minutes before I serve, which binds all the flavors amazingly.  To doll up the dish, garnish with the chopped herbs and rose petals (optional) before serving.
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FishMediterraneanPescetarianseafood

Pan-seared salmon with apricot saffron salsa

by michelletang118
written by michelletang118

SALMON WITH AN APRICOT TWIST | A fruity take on the pan-fried salmon

Seeing I still have a pack of dried apricots I purchased in Melbourne this year, I thought I’d raid my fridge to see what else I had to make a sumptious lunchtime meal.  

Enter an apricot salsa made from a concoction of apricot, diced green beans, pine nuts and a touch of saffron.

Now to get the salmon skin extra crispy, I highly recommend scoring it first with a sharp knife. Scoring the surface of a protein allows the seasoning to penetrate, prevents the skin from curling, encourages fat to render, and creates more crispy bits. To do so, use a very sharp blade, draw knife down length of protein to make parallel ¼”-deep cuts spaced ½” apart from end to end.

Pan-seared salmon with apricot saffron salsa

INGREDIENTS:

PREP TIME: 15 min | COOK TIME: 10 MIN | TOTAL TIME: 25 mins | YIELDS: 1 serving

METHOD:

  1. Dice apricots into small cubes. Repeat for the green bean.
  2. Slice garlic cloves into slices. Soak the pinch of saffron in one tablespoon of hot water.
  3. Using a very sharp blade, draw knife down length of protein to make parallel ¼”-deep cuts spaced ½” apart from end to end.
  4. Heat a small frying pan on low heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and lightly fry the garlic slices, along with the pine nuts and green beans. Next add the chopped olives, saffron water and lemon zest.
  5. Heat a saute pan on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil.  Once oil simmers, put skin side of salmon down and let it fry for 3-4 minutes without moving it.
  6. Flip salmon other side and continue gently pan frying for a further 3 minutes, until the middle turns opaque.7. Once salmon is done, transfer it to a serving plate and spoon the salsa on top before serving.
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