Saturday, April 18, 2015

Chicken and Potato Tagine


Since I bought my tagine--a Moroccan cooking vessel (see my first dish with it here), I've felt a need to use it again.  My husband keeps eying it in the cupboard and scratching his head.  I'm sure he's thinking, "what on earth did she need that for?"  But if you love to cook, you know that trying new utensils, tools and ways of cooking is like, well, the adrenaline rush other people get from bungee jumping or skydiving.  Just a lot safer.

The basis for this recipe is one I found on (About) Food.  But I incorporated a few things from other recipes and left out ingredients I didn't have...I'm easy that way.

Ingredients

Chicken (either cut up a whole chicken or use parts--in my case I wanted to use up some leg/thigh combos that were in the freezer.

1 large onion, sliced

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or pressed

2 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Splash of chicken broth

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

A couple of tablespoons of olive oil

A couple of potatoes depending on how many you are serving -- peeled and thinly sliced

I took the skin off my chicken pieces because unless you brown the skin...well, yuck, right?

Combine all the spices and the garlic and fresh parsley and/or cilantro (I used both because I had them and I love cilantro) in a bowl and add the chicken pieces.  Use your hands to coat the chicken pieces with the spice mixture.

Place the sliced onions in the bottom of the tagine (or your pot), cover with the sliced potatoes.






Arrange the chicken pieces on top.  Pour a splash (about 1/2 cup) of chicken broth into the bowl the chicken was in and swirl around to collect any remaining spice mixture.  Pour on top of the chicken.  Drizzle some olive oil on top (the original recipe called for 1/3 cup but I just...couldn't.  Too much oil for my taste.)


I still don't have a diffuser so I couldn't cook this on top of the stove as per instructions (the tagine could crack) so I baked it at 350 degrees in the oven for around 45 to 60 minutes--until the chicken was done and the potatoes were cooked.

The smells are incredible!  The great part about having a tagine is that you can bring it straight to the table and serve from there.  







I served the chicken with baby bok choy.  A bit of a mix of two cultures, but they went together very well!

 


8 comments:

  1. That sounds delicious Peg! I love cilantro too so will have to try this one.

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  2. You want me to get another cooking vessel? I have a walk-through pantry with shelves up to the 9' ceiling and it's already overflowing!

    But this dish sounds tasty--lovely combination of spices. Maybe I'll improvise...

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    1. I'm quite sure it would be just as tasty done in a Dutch oven. So I probably didn't *need* the tagine but don't tell hubby that!

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  3. I can almost smell it from here! Delightful.

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  4. Sounds delish! Did you bake it with the top on?

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    1. Yes, I had the top on. It keeps the steam in and that makes for very moist chicken and intense flavor.

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  5. It looks so yummy! Thank you for the recipe.

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