A Tagine of My Own Making

I love my Tagine.  It is an amazing cooking vessel.  Meats come out incredibly moist and tender and vegetables are cooked to perfection.  Because of this clay pot I have become fascinated with Moroccan Cooking.  I have been reading much and looking at Moroccan Food Blogs.  I like most things.  There are, however, a few things that I do not like.  I am not a big fan of cloves or cinnamon in my savory foods.  Save them for my pie, thanks.  I also am not a big fan of fruit in my savory food.  Many recipes call for grapes or apricots.  These are just not flavors that I enjoy together.  I am sure many people love this flavor combination but  it's just not for me. 

I was looking in some cookbooks and I came across a Tagine recipe that called for most of the ingredients that I do not care for.  I gave up and decided to go out on a limb and create a recipe that I knew that I would love.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

Chicken and Quinoa Tagine

2 large chicken breast cut into pieces

1 onion cut in half then sliced thin

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Quinoa rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans drained, rinsed and peeled

1 1/2 cups water

3 large carrots cut into pennies

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 generous pinch of saffron

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Heat Tagine or Dutch Oven over medium heat.

 

Add Olive Oil and Chicken.  Cook until chicken starts to brown on both sides.

 

When chicken is brown add onion and cook until translucent

When onions are done remove them along with the chicken and set aside.

Add Quinoa, water and spices.

Return chicken to the tagine, add garbanzo beans and carrots and cover.  Cook for 20 minutes or until quinoa is translucent and has little tiny strings attached to each.

Add one of your favorite flat breads (I made pita's)

and...

Get your yum on!

PS Don't miss my special Yeast Spoon give-a-way just click to join in.

Join me in Morocco?

So I will be upfront with you.  I have never been to Morocco!  I just happen to fall in love with a simple clay cooking vessel called a  Tagine.  To learn more see my first post about the tagine Maiden Voyage: Tagine 

There are many unique parts to this tagine dish.  The first is Preserved lemon.  You can purchase them online here preserved lemons it is just as easy to make them.  All you need is lemons, a jar and some kosher salt.  I will post how to do this soon.  The next unique ingredent is harissa.  A fiery past made from dried acho chillies.  Don't worry folks I have this recipe for you along with some fun photos too!

Harissa

8 dried red chillies (ancho or New Mexico)

2 to 3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or kosher salt)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 cup olive oil

Put the chilies in a bowl and pour over enough water to cover them. Let them set for at least an hour.

Drain and squeeze out any excess water.

Using a motar and pestle, pound the chilies into a paste. Now I gotta be honest with y'all, this did not happen. I used a food processor for the chilies and the motar and pestle for the coriander.

  add the garlic and salt to this before placing into the food processor 

Beat in the cumin and coriander and bind with the olive oil

Store paste in a sealed jar in the fridge with a think layer of olive oil floating on top. It will keep for a month.  And let me tell you not a day longer!  

Okay so now what?  You have a jar of harissa what the heck do you do with it????

I chose an easy recipe from Tagine: Spicy stews from Morocco

Chicken tagine with harissa, artichokes and green grapes

4 chicken breasts cut into thick strips

2 table spoons olive oil

2 onions halved lengthwise and sliced with the grain 

1/2 preserved lemon cut into thin slices

1 teaspoon sugar

1-3 teaspoons of harissa paste (to your taste)

2 teaspoons tomato paste

1 1/4 cups chicken stock or water

1 13 oz jar of artichoke hearts

rinsed and halved

about 16 green grapes halved

one bunch cilantro leaves chopped

(this is the part that I wish I would not have listened to the recipe, way, way too much cilantro for me)

sea salt and ground pepper

for the marinade

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon of olive oil

First make the marinade, in a small bowl mix the garlic, turmeric, lemon juice and olive oil

cover and refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours or overnight

Heat the oil in the tagine.  Add the onions, preserved lemon and sugar

I cut up the lemon very small

saute for 2-3 minutes until slightly caramelized.  Toss in the marinated chicken, then add the harissa and tomato pastes. 

Next add the chicken stock and bring to a boil

Reduce heat and let cook gently for 15 minutes

 toss in the artichoke hearts and cover for for another 5 minutes

Add the grapes and some of the cilantro and season to taste with the salt and pepper

Sprinkle with some cilantro to serve.  

Add your favorite couscous and enjoy!

Maiden Voyage: Tagine, Chicken with Forty Garlic Cloves

One evening I went to a friend's home for dinner and had the best chicken ever! She brought it out in an odd cooking vessel that I had never seen before. Me, being an armature foodie who loves gadgets said, "I gotta get myself one of those". Oh btw one of those is a Tagine a Moroccan clay cooking pot. I did a bunch of research on tagines and I decided to make a trip to Sur La Table to purchase one. The clay pot that Sur La Table has is glazed throughout and later I learned that the inside dome should not be glazed because the unglazed dome will absorb both flavors and moisture and this is a good thing! A tagine must be seasoned. That one took a trip to the library to learn how! I brushed olive oil on the tagine and put it in a cold oven, set it to 300 and let the tagine bake for 2 hours. This will prevent it from cracking.

So now on to making something in this wacky clay pot!

1 whole chicken

or

3 pounds chicken pieces

1/2 lemon

salt and freshly ground pepper

2 bouquets garni (4 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves, 4 sprigs rosemary, 6 sage leaves)

1/2 cup olive oil

30 to 40 garlic cloves UN-PEELED (The unpeeled part because I did not read this and I spent 2o min peeling)

1 cup chicken broth as needed

Rub the lemon all over the chicken inside and out. Tuck one Bouquet Garni along with the lemon inside. Now heat the evoo in a skillet and saute the garli

c for a bit. Turn the whole chicken in the oil until lightly colored

Put the bird into the tagine and add the bouquet garni and cover with the lid. Pop it into a 350 degree oven for an hour check it after 30 to see if you need to add some broth.

Okay so I am not very good at reading directions... I did not

brown my chicken! (bad Becky, bad Becky) however it was an amazing chicken and The garlic cloves are wonderful spread on a whole wheat pita or bread of your choice.

a note about the sir la table tagine

So there is a major design flaw in this tagine.

When it's hot it is almost impossible to take the lid off! My brother-in-law made a modification that made all the difference! He added a wire to the top so I could have something to grab so I could get the lid off. I am not sure what Sir La Table was thinking with this one.