Chicken Tagine With Green Olives And Preserved Lemon

Source: London Evening Standard, Friday May 17, 2002

Ingredients

• 15 Chicken Thighs
• 5 large Garlic Cloves
• Salt
• 2 large Onions
• 4 Olive Oil
• 25 G Butter
• ½ teaspoon Ground Paprika
• ½ teaspoon Ground Cumin
• pinch Saffron Stamens, Softened In
• 1 tablespoon Boiling H2O
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 4 Belazu Beldi Pickled Lemons
• 100 G Green Olives
• 40 G Flat-Leaf Parsley, Chopped
• 40 G Coriander, Chopped

Method

Trim excess fat and skin from the chicken thighs. Slash the skin in two or three places. Crush the garlic with one tsp salt to make a juicy paste. Stir in 2 tbsp olive oil and smear the mixture over the chicken pieces, rubbing it in down the slashes.

Peel and halve the onions. Finely slice one and finely chop the other. Heat the rest of the oil in a large frying pan and add the onion, two tbsp of water and the butter. Cook briskly, stirring often, for about 20 minutes until soft but uncoloured.

Add the paprika, cumin, saffron and cinnamon stick to the pan. Stir well and add 500 ml. water. Bring to the boil, then tip the sauce into a large, heavy-bottomed, lidded pan. Now add the chicken and return the liquid to the boil. Reduce the heat immediately, cover the pan and cook for 40 minutes.

Quarter the lemons lengthways. Scrape out the pith and finely slice the skin into batons. Smack the olives with something heavy and remove the stones. When the 40 minutes are up, remove the lid and stir the herbs, lemon skin and olives into the stew.

Simmer for 15 minutes to reduce the liquid slightly, concentrate the flavours and finish cooking the chicken. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt. Leave to rest for 15 minutes before serving. The tagine reheats perfectly.