A few years ago, I purchased a tagine, an earthenware cooking and serving pot common in North Africa, with which to experiment.
Have you ever tried cooking with a tagine? Or another type of clay pot? There’s something special about cooking with clay. The heating is more even than what you would get in a regular skillet, and the liquid that gets released from the food while it cooks bastes the food keeping it moist.
A tagine used on a stove-top gives you that wonderful slow, even cooking that you would normally get from an oven-braise. The conical top returns moisture to the food below, and when the dish is done, you can serve it right in the pot.
My first foray into cooking with the tagine was with this Moroccan chicken dish which turned out beautifully—succulent, tender, and full of flavor.
I pulled the recipe together from various sources including the New York Times, The New Basics Cookbook, and recipes by Le Souk Ceramique, the maker of my tagine.
Preserved lemon is traditionally called for in this dish (very easy to make, by the way, all you need are lemons, salt, and time), and in my opinion, worth making just for this dish. But if you don’t have any, you can easily use thin slices of regular lemon.
Also, you don’t absolutely need to use a tagine to make this dish; just use a large, shallow, thick-bottomed, covered skillet.
Moroccan Chicken with Lemon and Olives Recipe
PrintThis recipe shines with preserved lemons. If you don't have access to any, you can use thin slices of regular or Meyer lemon, and you'll likely need to add quite a bit of salt to the dish at the end.
If you use a tagine, you will likely need to soak it in water over-night before subjecting it to the heat of the stove. Doing so will help keep the tagine from cracking.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 chicken, 3-4 lbs, cut into 8 pieces (or 3-4 lbs of just chicken thighs and legs, the dark meat is more flavorful)
- Salt
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, chopped
- The rind from 1 preserved lemon, rinsed in cold water, pulp discarded, rind cut into thin strips (if you don't have preserved lemon, use whole thin slices of regular lemon)
- 1 cup green olives, pitted
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Method
1 Marinate chicken in spice rub: Combine all the spices—paprika, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper—in a large bowl.
Pat dry the chicken pieces and put in the bowl, coat well with the spice mixture. Let the chicken stand for one hour in the spices.
2 Brown chicken pieces in tagine or skillet: If you are using a clay tagine (if you have one, you must soak the bottom in water overnight before using), place it on a heat diffuser
If you do not have a tagine, you can use a thick-bottomed, large skillet with a cover. Heat the olive oil in the skillet on medium high heat.
In either case, sprinkle the chicken pieces very lightly with salt (go easy on the salt, the olives and preserved lemons are salty) and place skin side down in the tagine or skillet for 5 minutes, until lightly browned.
3 Add garlic and onions, cover and cook: Lower the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and onions over the chicken. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes.
4 Add lemon, olives, raisins, water, then cover and simmer: Turn chicken pieces over. Add the lemon slices, olives, raisins, and 1/2 cup water.
Bring to a simmer on medium heat, then lower the heat to low, cover, and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and quite tender.
5 Stir in parsley, cilantro: Mix in fresh parsley and cilantro right before serving. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Serve with couscous, rice, or rice pilaf.
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Moroccan Chicken with Lemon and Olives
I “fell in luv” with Mediterranean cooking when traveling thoughout Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Later, when placed on a lo-sodium diet, I learned to appreciate the spices associated with Mediterranean cuisine which does not rely on salt and MSG. However, I found the clay based tagine too “cumbersome/labor intensive” to use. I, fortunately, discovered that LeCresuet (sp?) and Emile Henry cookware manufacture tagines that can be placed directly on a cooktop. The cooking process is similar (with what I call the funnel top) and the ease of the cookware use outweighs the care clay cookware requires.
1) confession – haven’t cooked your version
2) thanks for reminder that oven can perform more tagine-like slow, even braise
3) thanks for dry rub tip which I’ll build into my version
4) agreed re preserved lemons as special to dish – suggestion: since you suggest authentic preserved lemons…try building in authentic ras el hanout spice blend – available in same shops/websites
Easy, simple to follow !
And of course came out awesome … I had it with fries and used Moroccan bread to absorb all the gravy …
Can you add a tin of tomatoes? Or would it spoil the recipe authenticity?
If not using preserved lemons, would you add the lemon juice?
Thanks !
Hi Mixy, I would not add tomatoes to this recipe. If you don’t have preserved lemons, just use some thin slices of regular lemons. You’ll probably need to add more salt.
Thanks for your reply!
Bye bye tomatoes so!
When you say “thin slices of regular lemons”, I guess you mean the slices of the lemon peel? Not the whole lemon?
thanks again
Hi Mixy, either just the peel or with the flesh, it depends on how much lemon flavor you want. BTW, you could try thinly slicing some lemon, tossing it all with salt and letting it sit for an hour or two (or day or two) before cooking the dish (rinse off the salt before adding). I haven’t tried doing this, but I think it might work better than just plain lemon slices. The preserved lemon is such a wonderful flavor, that anything that gets you closer to it is worth a try in my opinion.
Just cooked it with lemon peel. It was amazing. Thanks for the recipe and the guidance
Next time, I will try to find preserved lemons! I am sold with the idea!
One final question: if you have cumin seeds as opposed to ground cumin. Would you grind it or throw the seeds into the pan?
Thanks
HI Mixy, I would grind the cumin. If you want to take it a lovely step further, toast the cumin lightly (until very fragrant) first, then grind.
i have a glazed pot. do i still need to soak over night? the only instructions it came with is that it didnt need to be seasoned. ive searched for info, not much luck. thank you.
Hi Samantha, if it’s completely glazed all over, and the instructions say you don’t need to season it, then I assume you don’t.
thanks so much for the reply.