Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons

Recipe courtesy Boujemaa Mars, La Mamounia, Marrakech

Rated: 4 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (6)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(6)

Cook Time:
55 min
Level:
Intermediate
Yield:
6 to 8 servings

Times:

Prep: 15 min
Inactive Prep: 25 min
Cook: 55 min
Total:: 1 hr 35 min

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Ingredients

Rock salt
1 whole large chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 large bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon real saffron
Pinch fine salt
1/2 pound onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 pound gizzards, optional
1/4 pound chicken liver, optional
1/4 cup mixed olives, pitted
3 small preserved lemons
Serving suggestion: bread

Directions

First rub the rock salt into the chicken pieces and then wash the chicken in the white wine vinegar and water. Leave for 10 minutes. Rinse and dry and place onto a clean plate.

In a large bowl, mix the olive oil, coriander, cinnamon, saffron, fine salt, 1/2 the onions, garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika, turmeric. Mix all these ingredients into the oil and crush the garlic and add a little water to make a paste.

Roll the chicken pieces into the marinade and leave for 10 to 15 minutes.

For cooking, use a tagine (traditional Moroccan dish) or a deep, heavy bottom casserole dish. Heat the dish up and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the hot dish. Drop in the chicken and pour over the excess marinade juices. Add the remaining onions, gizzards, chicken livers, olives, and chopped preserved lemons (no pulp).

Cook in medium hot oven (350 degrees F) for 45 minutes.

Serve with fresh bread.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
MICHELE Bend, OR 04-12-2009
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Delectable
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

The flavors in the chicken were wonderful and it cooked up delectably moist and tender. We doubled the recipe, so used two... chickens, and quartered them rather than cutting them into eight pieces each. (An added benefit is the great aroma of the chicek as it cooks.) Using the recommendation of another reviewer, we cut back on the olive oil to about 3TBSP (from 5) per recipe. Other than that, spice, herb and preserved lemon amounts were per recipe. If this recipe ws originally part of a show, I didn't see it and the instructions regarding the rubbing the chicken with rock salt then washing with a mixture of 1 TBSP of white vinegar and water weren't as clear as they could have been for amount of water to use so I "winged" it. (No pun intended re chicken wings. ;-) ) Not thinking the authors meant the rock salt for icy walkways, I used a coarse grey sea salt as the salt rub and then used the vinegar at a ration of TBSP to 1 cup water and used that as the washing mixture. Not sure what the purpose of the step is (as another reviewer indicates) or even if the vinegar to water ratio was right, but the outcome was so good that I'll include this step again again if making this recipe. Read more
recipe Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
HEATHER Berkeley, CA 04-17-2006
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An easy to make traditional tagine
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

If you like olives and lemon, this is a keeper. It has a lot of Moroccan flavor without a lot of fuss. I doubled it and my... son's friends devoured it. It is strong in flavor, though, so if you serve it to guests make sure you know what their tastes are!Read more
recipe Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
Sara Mumbai 02-20-2006
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I was very good
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

It was simple and quick and very good taste.
recipe Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
Anonymous 01-24-2006
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Great flavor that could have been deeper
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I made a double recipe for a crowd, and do not know how 1 chicken can be used for 6-8 servings, but i doubled recipe, used... two whole chickens and another whole breast. Plenty of marinade if you just double that part. 1 - most of the time in prep is removing and cleaning cilantro (mentioned as coriander later in the recipe) but needed as cilantro normally sandy 2 - could not find preserved lemons and was not inclined to spend 2 days preparing 3 - i do not understand the purpose of the salting and washing in vinegar water but did anyway Overall everyone really liked this dish but the cilantro flavor was lost due to using fresh version in a roasting in tagine or in my case dutch oven. Personally I would have liked some deeper flavor with these type of ingredients, i think there was too much oil/fat. Next time i would (1) eliminate the salting/washing, (2) would split the cilantro into two adds, the first as described and the second when the dish is removed from the oven, and (3) remove more of the chicken fat from the birds before marinading.Read more
recipe Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
Jennifer Lake Mary, FL 12-27-2005
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Fantastic Recipe
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This recipe was delicious and I didn't even use the preserved lemons. I used plain lemons minus the gizzards. The aroma... this recipe spread throughout my home was to die for. The combination of spices definitely made this dish very interesting and incredibly tasty. Make sure to serve this with a lot of bread as one cannot seem to get enough of dipping the bread in the sauce. I just got a tagine baking pot for Christmas which I will use this week - this should make the receipe even more delicious.Read more
recipe Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons
Anonymous 10-14-2004
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good
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I substituted 4 chicken breasts for the whole chicken/gizzards, to serve 4 people. This is a really good recipe, but the... preserved lemons may too strong for some people.Read more