At eight o clock this morning the men came to remove our kitchen. As I left the house, lisa was removing various bits and pieces to try and flog them on ebay. When I come home tonight I suspect most of it will be gone.
Whilst I am excited about the arrival of a spanking new kitchen (and a little nervous) I am sad to see the old one go as it has served us well for the last decade.
On Saturday night Gus came home and my Mum came up and I cooked this Jamie Oliver dish, it was delicious ..... unless you're Martha of course, who, I only discovered later, HATES preserved lemon.
It is very easy to make ... the only thing I would question on the recipe is if you really need an hour and a half... I think an hour would probably be sufficient.
Here's the recipe in full
Chicken, olive and preserved lemon tagine
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5kg), preferably free-range or organic, skin-on, jointed into 4 (get your butcher to do this for you or you could just use large chicken pieces)
Olive oil
2 large bulbs of fennel
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
A small bunch of fresh coriander
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2-3 small preserved lemons, deseeded and chopped
80g black and green olives, stoned
A good pinch of saffron
500ml hot organic chicken stock For the spice rub1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds, bashed up
1 level teaspoon ground cumin
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
The word “tagine” refers not only to the dish itself, but also to the unique pot it’s cooked in. These thick earthenware pots are used all over Morocco, and were introduced by nomads, who would use them directly over fire and ashes to create all sorts of beautiful stews with goat, lamb and chicken.
Traditionally, the lady of the house would be in charge of cooking the tagine, and that is still very much the way it is today. Apparently, that’s one of the ways they express their love and affection. So a word to the wise – if your missus feeds you a dodgy-tasting tagine, look out!
Making this dish in a proper tagine definitely adds to the beauty of it, but essentially it’s a stew with deep, lovely flavours, and you can still get an authentic taste using a conventional heavy-based casserole pan. I think this recipe delivers every time, and it really makes good use of one of the star flavours in tagines: preserved lemons.
Mix all the spice rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Put your chicken pieces into a large bowl, massage them with the spice rub, then cover with clingfilm, and put into the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours or, even better, overnight. When you’re ready to cook, heat a generous lug of olive oil in a tagine or casserole-type pan, and fry the chicken pieces over a medium to high heat, skin side down first, for about 5 to 10 minutes until gorgeous and golden brown.
While your chicken fries, chop each fennel bulb into 8 wedges, and add these to the pan along with the onions, coriander stalks and garlic. Stir well and fry for a couple more minutes, then mix in the preserved lemons, olives and saffron. Pour in the hot stock, give everything a good stir, then cover with a lid or foil, and simmer on a low heat for 1½ hours, or until the meat starts to fall away from the bone. Halfway through, have a check and give it a good stir. Keep an eye on it and add a splash of water if it looks dry. When the time’s up and your chicken looks perfect, stir gently. If it’s still a bit liquidy, leave it to blip away with the lid off until thickened slightly.
Serve with couscous.
Whilst I am excited about the arrival of a spanking new kitchen (and a little nervous) I am sad to see the old one go as it has served us well for the last decade.
On Saturday night Gus came home and my Mum came up and I cooked this Jamie Oliver dish, it was delicious ..... unless you're Martha of course, who, I only discovered later, HATES preserved lemon.
It is very easy to make ... the only thing I would question on the recipe is if you really need an hour and a half... I think an hour would probably be sufficient.
Here's the recipe in full
Chicken, olive and preserved lemon tagine
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (approximately 1.5kg), preferably free-range or organic, skin-on, jointed into 4 (get your butcher to do this for you or you could just use large chicken pieces)
Olive oil
2 large bulbs of fennel
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
A small bunch of fresh coriander
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2-3 small preserved lemons, deseeded and chopped
80g black and green olives, stoned
A good pinch of saffron
500ml hot organic chicken stock For the spice rub1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds, bashed up
1 level teaspoon ground cumin
1 heaped teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
The word “tagine” refers not only to the dish itself, but also to the unique pot it’s cooked in. These thick earthenware pots are used all over Morocco, and were introduced by nomads, who would use them directly over fire and ashes to create all sorts of beautiful stews with goat, lamb and chicken.
Traditionally, the lady of the house would be in charge of cooking the tagine, and that is still very much the way it is today. Apparently, that’s one of the ways they express their love and affection. So a word to the wise – if your missus feeds you a dodgy-tasting tagine, look out!
Making this dish in a proper tagine definitely adds to the beauty of it, but essentially it’s a stew with deep, lovely flavours, and you can still get an authentic taste using a conventional heavy-based casserole pan. I think this recipe delivers every time, and it really makes good use of one of the star flavours in tagines: preserved lemons.
Mix all the spice rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Put your chicken pieces into a large bowl, massage them with the spice rub, then cover with clingfilm, and put into the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours or, even better, overnight. When you’re ready to cook, heat a generous lug of olive oil in a tagine or casserole-type pan, and fry the chicken pieces over a medium to high heat, skin side down first, for about 5 to 10 minutes until gorgeous and golden brown.
While your chicken fries, chop each fennel bulb into 8 wedges, and add these to the pan along with the onions, coriander stalks and garlic. Stir well and fry for a couple more minutes, then mix in the preserved lemons, olives and saffron. Pour in the hot stock, give everything a good stir, then cover with a lid or foil, and simmer on a low heat for 1½ hours, or until the meat starts to fall away from the bone. Halfway through, have a check and give it a good stir. Keep an eye on it and add a splash of water if it looks dry. When the time’s up and your chicken looks perfect, stir gently. If it’s still a bit liquidy, leave it to blip away with the lid off until thickened slightly.
Serve with couscous.
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