Insatiable Appetite for Adventure

Passport & Plate - Chicken Tagine with Lemons and Olives

Morocco | Saturday, March 7, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
For one individual tagine:
1 Chicken piece(s)
Few splashes of olive oil
Few spoons of diced onion
Few slices fresh tomato
Few carrot sticks
Few potato slices
Small amount of Saffron threads
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Ginger
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Cumin
Dash Salt
Handful Parsley
2 minced cloves garlic
Handful chopped Cilantro/Coriander
Few glugs of water
Few lemon slices
As many green olives as you'd like
*The spices amounts can vary depending on your preferences

 

How to prepare this recipe
Splash some olive oil into the bottom of your tagine and place on medium heat. Add your chicken, skin side down. Add all your spices and a few more glugs of olive oil and then your water to coat the bottom and reach your chicken. Place the lid on your tagine and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Take off the heat and add your vegetables, starting with the potato slices and placing the potatos all around the chicken to form a peak. Do the same with the carrots and tomatoes. Arrange the lemon slices and olives all around and then sprinkle with parsley and cilantro. Place the lid of the tagine back on and let cook for at least 40 minutes. Check to ensure doneness. Serve right in the tagine and eat with delicious fresh bread.

 

The story behind this recipe
I can't take true credit for this recipe. I learned how to make this version of Chicken Tagine with Lemons and Olives from a chef in Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco.
This recipe is special to me for a number of reasons. My first night in Casablanca I ate Chicken Tagine with Lemons and Olives and it was amazing! I was a single traveller in a group of 10 but with that first dinner in Casablanca, I knew this was going to be a special trip for me. Chicken tagine is popular in Morocco and I had it a few other times throughout the trip but always making sure if there was something new to me on the menu that I would try it. I like to branch out and try new foods. When it was our turn to cook dinner, I was excited to learn we would be making my favourite Moroccan dish. This is the recipe we were taught. It was a fantastic night, start to finish - making our own tagines and then eating it with all our new friends. I finished my Moroccan trip with one last Chicken Tagine with Lemons and Olives but it wasn't as good as that first bite I had in Casablanca and it couldn't compare to the one I made with my new friends by my side.
This dish will always remind me of this trip to Morocco. We didn't have the best weather (we actually had SNOW in the Sahara!) but it was still the best trip of my life. I met the most incredible people, learned a great deal and was able to leave the worries and day-to-day stresses of home behind me. I felt true happiness. I don't even know how to explain the feeling - just pure, unadulterated happiness. That is what this recipe means to me.