Now, back to cooking. For today’s post, I’m offering a recipe that is perfect for these cold days we’ve been having here in the DC area. This recipe is hearty, filling, and spicy. I guarantee this dish will warm you up. Now, I’ve told you about my tagine before but just in case you don’t remember, it’s a Moroccan earthenware slow cooker. As a kitchen appliance, it’s so pretty. It’s so pretty, I wasn’t sure I’d ever use it. And at first, I was having a hard time with the tagine, that is until my mom and I came across the cookbook Tagines & Couscous.

My mom and I were shopping at a Lecruest outlet store when I spotted the book. The lady who worked in the shop raved about it! She said it was so user friendly and they had made plenty of amazing dishes for their classes and taste tests. We were sold. Literally. Both us got a copy. Now I make this recipe (well, below is my adaptation of it) all the time. Honestly, I make this recipe almost every other week.

I have found some of the ingredients in the book hard to find (like rose water), but, when I really can’t find them, I’ve powered through with the recipe and it has still come out delicious. Also, please don’t be afraid of how many spices this recipe calls for. It’s an investment at first, but I’ve found them to be worthwhile and useful for other recipes. Additionally, If you don’t have a tagine, try this out with a dutch oven.

Finally, I heartily suggest making couscous as a side. You can find couscous in the same aisle as other grains. It’s such a great complement to this dish because it’s buttery and subtle and helps to balance the spiciness of the dish. And believe me, this dish does have some kick.

Ingredients: 

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp turmeric

1-2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp honey

2 cups carrots, cut diagonally into 2″ pieces

1 lb lean beef, cut into cubes (I use what Trader Joe’s packages as stew meat)

1 14oz cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (you can use up to 2 cans if you love chickpeas)

sea salt

chopped cilantro (optional, for garnish)

Directions:

1. If using a tagine, put the your heat diffuser over the burner. Put the bottom of the tagine on top. Pour in the oil and heat over medium-high until warm.

2. Add the onion and garlic. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the turmeric, cumin seeds, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, and honey. Stir to coat the onions and garlic. Let the spices toast a bit, just for 1 minute.

4. Add the carrots. Saute for 4-5 minutes. Make sure they get coated with the spices.

5. Stir in the beef. Saute for about 3 minutes. Make sure you get the beef coated and it has started to brown. It’s ok if it’s 50% brown and 50% pink.

I’m sorry this picture is a little blurry, but I wanted you to see you don’t have to completely cook the meat.

6. Pour in enough water so everything is 50% covered. Bring the water to a boil. Place the cover on the tagine, and turn the heat to low.

7. Let everything simmer in the tagine for 40 minutes.

8. Add the drained chickpeas to the tagine. Stir everything together so the chickpeas also get some seasoning. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

9. Turn off the heat. Make sure the vegetables are tender and the meat is cooked through. You should have a nice stew-like meal swimming in some spicy broth. Season with salt, if desired. Garnish with cilantro, if you’re  using it. Serve over a bed of couscous.

Messy Level: I give this one three spoons because it is undercover messy. Yes, everything is in one pot and that makes it pretty clean. But turmeric is a sneaky nemesis! It makes the liquid yellow and everything that liquid touches will be dyed yellow. If you have cheap counter tops, like I do, you might end up with some stains so please be careful!

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One of my new kitchen gadgets is the inspiration for this blog post. At my bridal shower a family friend gave me a Moroccan tagine. When I opened it I was impressed by how beautiful it was, but I had no idea how to use it! The tagine is a ceramic cooking vessel made up of two parts. The bottom is like a dish, and the top is a cone shaped lid. There is a small hole at the top of the cone to let out the heat and steam.

The same family friend followed up at the wedding by giving us Mourad Lahlou’s book New Moroccan. I read through the book and got some tips on how to use the tagine, and I made a couple of stew-like meals and they came out pretty well. Pretty well – but not great. Every time Ryan and I would have a couple of ideas about how we could make it better the next time. I was feeling mildly discouraged, but then on William-Sonoma’s website I found a video of Mourad cooking the Chicken Legs with Preserved Lemons in a tagine! The recipe is also in his book, and so armed with all of these resources I felt sure I could finally use the tagine well. If you don’t have a tagine, don’t despair! If you have a dutch oven or some other ceramic cooking vessel that can go on the stove and in the oven, you can do this recipe!

Before getting to the recipe, I wanted to talk about the seasonings. First, I was skeptical about preserved lemons. Mourad’s book talks about how important preserved lemons are to Moroccan cooking and he gives details instructions on how to make them, but I was less than convinced I’d do it myself. But, Williams-Sonoma, always my favorite dream cooking and food place sells preserved lemons in the store so it saved me a step! They tasted pretty good in the recipe but straight out of the jar – OH MY! They are so salty, but also tangy from the citrus. It’s a powerful flavor. I was also a little put-off by the amount of spices required for the recipe. I didn’t have a lot of the spices in my cabinet before doing this, and so buying all those spices hurts the wallet a bit – but it is worth it. First, now I actually have the spices and can make it again. But, it also creates an incredible yellow broth that smells just decadent. Expanding my horizons from my usual salt, pepper, and garlic powder was truly worth it!

Anyway, let’s get to the recipe!

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken legs with thighs (use what fits in your tagine, mine only fit 4)

Salt

vegetable oil (Mourad uses duck fat, but I don’t have that kind of thing!)

5 cups thinly sliced yellow onions

2 tbsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground white pepper

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp saffron threads

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

4-6 quarter preserved lemon rind (as many rinds as you have chicken legs)

1/2 cup green olives, pitted and cracked

3-4 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Salt the chicken legs and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour

2. Preheat over to 350° and make sure there will be enough space for the tagine in the oven. You might have to take out all racks except the bottom one.

3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan at medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the chicken legs and cook, turning once until the sides are well browned. It should take 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the legs from the pan and set aside.

4. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the tagine on the stove. IMPORTANT NOTE: When using the tagine on the stove be sure to use a difusser! Without the difusser the tagine is likely to crack.

5. Add the onions and saute over medium-high heat. Stir often and cook until they are a nice brown. It should take about 15-17 minutes.

6.  Add the spices and a bit of salt to the onions. Stir for 1 1/2 minutes to toast the spices.

7. Return the chicken legs to the tagine, pour in the stock and bring to a boil.

8. Cover the tagine and put it in the oven. Cook for 40 minutes. When you remove it from the oven, the chicken should be tender and falling off the bone.

9. Remove the legs from the pan.

10. Return the tagine to a burner and simmer for 3-5 minutes to reduce the sauce. The soft should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. If you taste the sauce at this point it will have a little bit of a spicy kick to it.

11. Add the lemon rinds and olives if you’re using them.

12. When the rind and olives are hot whisk in the butter 1 tsbp at a time. Taste the sauce after each tbsp of butter has melted. When I made it, I put all 4 tbsps in at once. It made the sauce more creamy and less spicy. It was delicious, but I wish I had let some of the spiciness remain.

13. Serve chicken and place sauce, onions, lemons, and olives over the chicken.

This picture might not look all that impressive, but you can see the lemon rind (top middle of the plate), the sauce, onions, and chicken. The flavor was lovely and the chicken was so tender. We ate it over couscous!

Messy level: Two spoons. The final product looks messy, and moving the chicken can be a bit dangerous, but overall you’re cooking in one vessel.

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