Moroccan tagine

yes, it's a terrible picture but I was distracted by eating 

and barely remembered to even take a picture. whoops.

Oh my. This was one of our culinary highlights of the year so far! I wanted to make a tagine of some sort for my 2012 Food Challenge. I'd read about tagine in "Trail of Crumbs"and it seems to be making the food blog circuit, too. 


After googling, I found quite a few recipes that I borrowed from, like this one, and this one. Generally, they all called for similar ingredients, so (as I like to do) I winged it and created my own! 


I baked the tagine in a clay pot that looks similar to this pot. Nathan found it at Goodwill- interestingly, it's from West Germany. I soaked the pot in water for several hours, then threw in about 10 chicken drumsticks that were marinated overnight (see recipe below), a roughly chopped onion, a can of green olives, a handful of raisins, and about 3 diced preserved lemons. This baked in the oven (at about 400F) for around 90 minutes. We served it with brown rice, sauteed chard and homemade sweet potato french fries and a creamy herb dip. (Thanks to Chelsea and Scott!)


The sauce is tangy, bright, and rich thanks to the combination of spices, chunks of happy lemon and salty olives. The chicken was ridiculously tender- literally falling off the bone. (I recommend using bone-in chicken- preferably a combination of dark and light meat.) The raisins added some low, dark sweetness and didn't interfere with the texture of the dish (if the idea of squishy raisins concern you.)


This dish got rave reviews, and we plan to make it again.  In fact, I've got my second batch of preserved lemons going in the fridge- they are incredible. I'm going through a lemon withdrawal as we wait for them to finish the preservation process (it takes about 4 weeks.) 


We used the clay pot to be more authentic (as authentic as Seattle-dwelling caucasians making a dish from a country they've never visited can), but this dish can be made in a crock pot (Moroccans everywhere are gasping in horror) or in a large, covered saute pan on the stove. 


Considering how complex and rich the flavors are, the process is really easy! You don't even need to stir the ingredients, they all magically meld together in the pot. 


To a soaked clay pot (or other coverable, heatable vessel), add:
1 chopped large onion
1/2 cup rasins
1 cup green olives
1 cup chicken broth
3-4 chopped preserved lemon (remove the seeds, but just loosely chop the whole lemon)
handful fresh parsley
and
8-12 pieces of bone-in chicken- marinated


Chicken marinade*:
in a small dish, combine:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 heaping teaspoon each of turmeric, cinnamon, ground ginger, paprika and cumin
1/2 teaspoon each of saffron threads (if you have them- they won't make or break the dish)  
       and ground black pepper
3-4 diced cloves garlic**


Cover the clay pot and put it in the oven, THEN turn the oven heat on to 400F. If you put the clay pot directly into the oven, there's a risk of it cracking.


I let it bake for about 1.5 hours and it was perfect, so check your chicken around an hour and determine if it needs more time. Your house will smell amazing and your guests will be drooling. Enjoy!


*I put the chicken parts in a large ziplock bag and added the marinade, massaged the chicken firmly to coat it in marinade, and put it in the fridge overnight. 
**Note that I didn't add any salt: the preserved lemons and olives are pretty salty, so it's best to add salt after you've cooked and tasted the dish- if it's even necessary.