Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives

Name: Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 5 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 8 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on, about 1.2 kg in total; 2 onions, coarsely grated; 4 clove garlic, finely grated; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 0.5 tsp black pepper; 1 pinch saffron threads, crumbled; 0.5 tsp salt; 3 tbsp olive oil; 15 g fresh coriander, chopped, divided; 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped, divided; 300 ml water; 2 preserved lemons, small; 100 g green olives, rinsed; 1 tbsp lemon juice

1 h 20
Prep 15 min
Cook 1 h 5
Serves 4
easy

Start cooking

Chicken thighs braised with onion, ginger, turmeric and saffron, then finished with salty preserved lemon, green olives and fresh herbs.

Method

1
Mix the onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, pepper, saffron, salt, olive oil and half the herbs in a bowl. Add the chicken and rub the mixture all over it.
2
Put the chicken and every bit of the onion mixture into the tagine or casserole and cook over medium heat, turning the pieces, until they take on a golden colour.
3
Pour in the water and bring to a simmer.
4
Cover and simmer gently, turning the chicken halfway through.
5
Meanwhile, quarter the preserved lemons, scrape out and discard the pulp, and cut the peel into thin strips.
6
Add the lemon peel and olives, then simmer uncovered until the chicken is very tender and the sauce has reduced to a thick golden layer.
7
Lift the chicken onto a warm platter. If the sauce is still thin, boil it hard until it thickens.
8
Stir the remaining herbs and the lemon juice into the sauce, taste, and spoon it over the chicken.
9
Serve with crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

Notes

Preserved lemons and olives are both salty, so add more salt only after tasting at the end.
Grating the onions lets them melt into the sauce and thicken it.

Equipment

Tagine or large heavy casserole with a lid, Mixing bowl, Coarse grater

Cook this step by step