Chicken Tagine With Olives and Preserved Lemons

Recipe from Shallots New York

Adapted by Florence Fabricant

Chicken Tagine With Olives and Preserved Lemons
Michael Kraus for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour, plus marinating
Rating
5(3,977)
Comments
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This rich and fragrant chicken stew is laden with complex flavors and spices reminiscent of the sort you might encounter in a mountainside cafe in Morocco. Save yourself the cost of a plane ticket, however, and make this at home. First, rub the chicken with a redolent combination of garlic, saffron, ground ginger, paprika, cumin, turmeric and black pepper, then pop it into the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours to marinate. Once that's done, brown the chicken parts, and remove from the pan, making room for a pile of sliced onions that you'll sauté until golden brown. Nestle a cinnamon stick into the tangle of onions, pile the chicken parts on top and scatter with slices of preserved lemons and olives, a combination of green and kalamata. Add a bit of chicken stock and lemon juice, then cook over low heat until the chicken is cooked through, and your house smells amazing. —Florence Fabricant

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 5cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • ¼teaspoon saffron threads, pulverized
  • ½teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1teaspoon sweet paprika
  • ½teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½teaspoon turmeric
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1chicken, cut in 8 to 10 pieces
  • 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3medium onions, sliced thin
  • 1cinnamon stick
  • 8calamata olives, pitted and halved
  • 8cracked green olives, pitted and halved
  • 1large or 3 small preserved lemons (sold in specialty food shops)
  • 1cup chicken stock
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

781 calories; 55 grams fat; 14 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 25 grams monounsaturated fat; 11 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 4 grams sugars; 59 grams protein; 1056 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Mix garlic, saffron, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric together. If not using kosher chicken, add ½ teaspoon salt. Add pepper to taste. Rub chicken with mixture, cover, refrigerate and marinate 3 to 4 hours.

  2. Step 2

    Heat oil in heavy skillet. Add chicken, and brown on all sides. Remove to platter. Add onions to skillet, and cook over medium-low heat about 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to tagine, if you are using one, or leave in skillet. Add cinnamon stick.

  3. Step 3

    Put chicken on onions. Scatter with olives. Quarter the lemons, remove pulp and cut skin in strips. Scatter over chicken. Mix stock and lemon juice. Pour over chicken.

  4. Step 4

    Cover tagine or skillet. Place over low heat, and cook about 30 minutes, until chicken is done. Scatter parsley on top, and serve.

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5 out of 5
3,977 user ratings
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Comments

Michael

I've made this several times.
A few points/suggestions.
* See Paula Wolfert's "Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco" for variations.
* I know it's customary to use both saffron and turmeric in Morocco. IMO this is a mistake. Turmeric is excellent, but it's not subtle and overwhelms the saffron. Use one or the other. I use saffron.
* The recipe says discard the preserved lemon pulp. However, Paula Wolfert says she does not bother and uses the pulp. So do I.

Nancy

"Marinating" the chicken in the spices doesn't really work. Skip this step and add the spices to the onions. (The spice rub burned in the pan while the chicken was browning.)

Meri

I have made this several times. I use 6-8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on. After browning chicken in step 2, I remove and discard the skin, leaving flavorful fond in the skillet. Drain excess chicken fat at this point.
I increase the amount of olives, and sometimes garnish with cilantro instead of parsley. A small amount of honey, added at the end of cooking, can add balance if it's too acidic.

E. W.

To the debate of turmeric s as well as marinating and browning chicken: I spent a lot of time in Morocco and have close friends and i can tell you that a) Moroccans do NOT brown chicken. You can’t really brown it in a clay tagine. They marinate and then add it to the tagine and cook. b) About turmeric and saffron. Moroccans add turmeric MOSTLY for color since (i quote my friends in Morocco) “there is no greatest sin than white chicken”. That’s right- they add turmeric because they can’t brown it in the clay tagine, to achieve that lovely color. So feel free to skip or reduce turmeric (lots of people find the flavor overwhelming) since you are probably cooking on aUS kitchen with ample choice of cooking dishes and can indeed achieve the right color with browning.

Sally

Can anyone comment on the "cracked green olives" called for in the recipe? I looked this up and see that they are kind of smashed with the pit inside. But do you buy them "cracked", or do you do it yourself? What kind of green olives are used?

SamBrooksS

I made this vegetarian by using two bags of quorn chick’n pieces, skipped the marination step and added the spices to the pan when I first cooked them. I didn’t add saffron seeing as I didn’t have any. I also used my own preserved lemons that I made about two months ago. I was very pleased with this recipe.

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Credits

Adapted from Shallots New York

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