Moroccan Tagine With Chicken And Dates Food

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE WITH DATES AND PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• Rinse the inside and outside of the hens and pat dry with paper towels.
• Make a paste of ginger and garlic. Mix the paste with olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper to make a marinade.
• Place the hens in the bottom of the tagine or heavy-bottomed, lidded casserole and spoon the marinade inside and over the outside of each hen. Pour in enough water or chicken stock to cover the base of the tagine, add the cinnamon stick and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat, cover with lid and transfer to the oven and roast for 1 hour.
• While the chicken is in the oven, rinse the salt from the preserved lemons and with a teaspoon scrape the pulp away and discard. Chop the lemon peel and set aside until needed.
• Remove the tagine from the oven and increase oven temperature to 450°
• Transfer the hens to a baking sheet and baste with the melted butter. Return the hens to the oven and bake until the skin is crisp and golden brown, about 5-8 minutes.
• While the hens are browning, remove the cinnamon sticks from the sauce in the dish and discard. Add the dates to the sauce in the roasting pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until the dates are soft, stir in the chopped preserved lemon. Replace the birds into the tagine, garnish with the slivered almonds, cover with lid and keep warm until ready to serve. Present the dish at the table in the tagine and divide into portions. Serve with couscous or basmati rice and a green salad.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE

Steps:

• Mix cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, coriander, ginger, mint, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Measure out 1/2 cup spice mix and set the remaining aside for another use.
• Bring a small pot of water to a boil; add apricots and raisins. Cook until fruit is soft, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water.
• Pour enough olive oil into a large skillet or Dutch oven to coat the bottom; turn heat to medium. Coat chicken with the 1/2 cup spice mix and place in the hot oil; cook until golden brown and releases easily from the skillet, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
• Mix onion and garlic into skillet with chicken; cook and stir until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add apricots, raisins, reserved 1/2 cup water from fruit, chicken broth, and honey; reduce heat to low and cover. Cook until chicken is very tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Serve chicken garnished with cilantro and almonds.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN AND DATE TAGINE

Steps:

• Cut the dates in half, discard the stone and then chop into six pieces.
• Slice the chicken into short strips.
• Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and stir in the onion.
• Cook until slippery and soft, then add in the pine kernels and lemon zest, salt and pepper.
• Turn down the heat and cook for about five minutes, before adding in the chicken.
• Cook until the meat is lightly browned.
• Squeeze the juice from half the lemon over the top, stir in the harissa, stock and dates.
• Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the water is reduced by half.
• You should end up with a thick, rusty coloured sauce.
• Meanwhile, prepare the couscous by placing it in a bowl and adding 300ml boiling water, remaining olive oil and salt.
• Cover and leave for 15 minutes, then use a fork to loosen the grains and mix in the butter.
• Serve the chicken mixture over the couscous, garnished with some chopped coriander and a lemon wedge.

MOROCCAN TAGINE WITH CHICKEN AND DATES

Steps:

• For sugared walnuts: Melt 1 T butter in a small saucepan and cook the walnuts over low heat until they are a shade darker and fragrant. Set aside to cool. When cool, remove from the pan into a bowl (leaving behind any remaining butter) and toss with the 1 T sugar. Set aside.
• In the tagine cooking vessel (or a broad saucepan with a cover, large enough to comfortably fit all 4 chicken thighs at once), heat 1 T olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Salt and pepper the chicken thighs on both sides and sear until just golden brown, but not cooked through. Set them aside. The thighs will have rendered some fat; remove enough fat to leave only 1 T fat in the pan. Lower the heat to medium and saute the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne, cinnamon, and ginger and continue to saute until the garlic is softened and the spices are toasted, about 2 minutes.
• Add the cider, chicken broth, and honey and bring to a boil. (Note: If you are using a tagine cooking vessel, add only half the liquid to begin with, then add the remaining liquid halfway through cooking time. Generally, a tagine is not large enough to accommodate all the cooking liquid at once.).
• Boil the liquid for about 5 minutes, until liquid has reduced slightly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. To the broth mixture, add the sweet potato, half of the chickpeas and half of the dates. Nestle the chicken thighs in the pan and toss the remaining dates and chickpeas over the top. Cover the vessel and place it in the 375-degree oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the sweet potato and chicken thighs are cooked though. (Note: If you are using a regular pan, baste the dish every 15 minutes or so. If using a tagine, add the second half of the cooking liquid halfway through cooking time, when some liquid has steamed away).
• When cooked, remove from the oven and taste for seasoning. Add more salt, pepper, or honey as desired. Serve over cous-cous with sugared walnuts and yogurt on the side. (Note: for extra richness, you can stir 1 T butter into the broth until melted and the broth is shiny).

CLASSIC MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE

Steps:

• Finely dice the onions and sauté in a large pot with the spice mix, using the olive oil.
• When the onions and spice mix starts to give off a fragrant smell, add in the diced chicken. Fry this off for 2 minutes.
• Add the cans tomato, stock, 1 cup of water, chickpeas and the juice of half a lemon.
• Season with salt and pepper and let this simmer for 15 minutes. If it gets to thick too quickly add in more water.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE

Steps:

• Place cumin seeds, coriander seeds and the whole allspice in a spice or coffee grinder; process until finely ground. Combine cumin mixture, nutmeg, ginger, red pepper, and cinnamon; set aside.
• Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and salt; cover and cook 10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon cumin mixture, sugar, and black pepper; cover and cook 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Add broth, and cook, uncovered, 30 minutes. Add raisins, chicken, and chickpeas; cover and bake chicken mixture at 375° for 30 minutes. Serve with couscous.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE POCKETS

Steps:

• Place chicken in a greased 3- or 4-qt. slow cooker. Combine the salsa, 6 tablespoons pomegranate juice, 1/3 cup dates, honey, Moroccan seasoning and garlic powder; pour over chicken. Cook, covered, on low, until chicken is tender, 5-6 hours., Meanwhile, combine the carrots, mayonnaise, pomegranate seeds and remaining dates. Refrigerate, covered, until serving., Remove chicken from slow cooker; cool slightly. Skim fat from cooking juices. Shred chicken with 2 forks. Return chicken and juices to slow cooker. Stir in remaining pomegranate juice; heat through. Serve in pitas with carrot slaw and, if desired, cilantro.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE TAGINE

Steps:

• Heat the broth in a tagine or in a thick-bottomed pot with a lid.
• Add the spices/herbs and seasonings to the broth and whisk to ensure there are no lumps. You can use a real whisk if you want, but I just use a fork.
• Finely dice the onion and place into the seasoned broth. Simmer, covered.
• Finely dice the chillis and add to the simmering onions. Keep the seeds if you like your food hot, otherwise remove the seeds before dicing.
• While this is simmering, dice the zucchini and yellow squash. Then cut the bell peppers into long strips. Set both aside in a bowl.
• Cut chicken breast in half the long way. Take each half and slice along the short axis so that the slices are not more than 1/4" thick. This is easiest to do if the chicken is partially frozen.
• Add the chicken to the simmering onions and chillis, ensuring that the slices are submerged.
• Add the zucchini, yellow squash, and bell peppers. Do not stir. It's ok if they are not submerged, the steam will cook them.
• Re-cover and simmer 45 minutes. Serve over couscous or rice. Alternatively, remove chicken and veggies, increase heat to "high", and reduce the sauce. Add chicken and veggies back, heat throughout, and serve as a stew.

MOROCCAN TAGINE WITH OLIVES AND ARTICHOKE HEARTS

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir chicken, onion, and garlic in hot oil until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, about 15 minutes.
• Stir garbanzo beans, diced tomatoes with juice, vegetable broth, artichoke hearts, carrot, olives, sugar, lemon juice, salt, coriander, and cayenne pepper into the chicken mixture; bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN TAGINE WITH CARAMELIZED PEARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook onions until softened and browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer onions into a tagine. Layer chicken pieces on top of onions.
• Combine turmeric, cumin, ground coriander, and salt in a small bowl; mix well with remaining 5 tablespoons olive oil. Spread spice mixture onto the chicken pieces. Add cinnamon pieces, bay leaves, ginger, and cilantro. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and cover tagine with a lid.
• Bake in the preheated oven until chicken is no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 50 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
• Melt butter in a skillet over low heat while chicken is cooking. Add sliced pears and honey and cook, while stirring, until honey has caramelized.
• Remove tagine from the oven and stir in caramelized pears. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 10 minutes.