Chicken Tagine with Pine Nut Couscous

Tagines can be purchased here

I love Moroccan food! Spices such as ginger, cumin, tumeric, paprika and garlic made into pastes, combined with dried fruits, preserved lemons, some sort of meat or vegetable and made into a stew to serve over couscous really get my taste buds going. These stews are often cooked and served in a Tagine, an earthenware pot with a conical lid. Cooking tagines tend to be terracotta and can be used on top of the stove or in the oven while serving tagines are more decorative with beautiful colors and patterns. The base of the tagine is the heavier part made to withstand heat and constant whereas the conical top seals the vessel which acts as a chimney to keep moisture and steam inside the tagine.

My sister, of Crossing Stitches, bought me a beautiful tagine for my birthday just recently, so I began surfing the web and my cookbooks for a recipe, but I was intimidated by all of the ingredients, especially preserved lemons which are hard to find in my area. The March, 2007 Sunset magazine had an article on chicken thighs and in the article was a recipe for Chicken Tagine with Pine Nut Couscous which could be made in 1 1/2 hours total prep and cooking time and had ingredients that were easy to find in the supermarket. Instead of using preserved lemons, lemon zest made a great substitute. The recipe sounded perfect!


















Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 bone-in chicken thighs (with skin)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
2 small dried red chiles, such as arbol ( I substituted 1/2 crushed red chiles)
1 teaspoon salt
15 dried apricots, halved
15 pitted prunes, halved
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
5 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs plus 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2 cups couscous
1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest

1. Heat oil in a 6- to 8-qt. heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn over and cook 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining chicken and set aside.

2. Drain all but 2 tbsp. oil from pot and reduce heat to medium. Add onion and sauté until golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, black pepper, cardamom pods, chiles, and salt and stir to combine. Return chicken to pot and add apricots, prunes, 2 cups chicken broth, and parsley sprigs. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 40 minutes. Take pot off heat and remove parsley sprigs and chiles. Remove skin from chicken.

3. In a covered medium saucepan, bring remaining 2 cups chicken broth to a boil. Turn off heat, stir in couscous, cover, and let sit 5 minutes. Uncover pan and fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in 2 tbsp. minced parsley, pine nuts, and lemon zest and toss to combine. Mound couscous on a platter. Top with chicken thighs and pour sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp. parsley.

Makes 4-6 servings