Safoi’s Chicken Tagine

Safoi has many beautiful tagines in her home in Michigan. A tagine is a cooking vessel used in many Moroccan recipes that’s made of earthenware and has a domed top that returns all condensation to the food, keeping everything moist (genius!). It is perfect for slow-cooked foods. Stews and bone-in chicken dishes are created in this beautiful pot, and the flavor is unmatched. Meat falls off the bone and all the flavors marry together. If you invest in one, you may never use your slow cooker again.

Tagine is also the name of a type of dish commonly served in Morocco. A tagine is a slowcooked savory and hearty stew that is made in the pot of the same name. If you already own a slow cooker, you don’t necessarily have to buy a tagine (see Note). But when I place my tagine on the stove and fire it up, I feel as if I’ve been transported to Morocco.

Safoi's Chicken Tagine

Anna Francese Gass

To make this recipe in a slow cooker, follow the directions through step 7, and set the slow cooker on high for 4 hours. Add the olives and lemon at the 3-hour-and-45-minute mark.

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Course Dinner

Cuisine Moroccan

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

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For the marinade

• 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) canola oil

For the stew

• 1 (1 1/2 pound/1.7 kg) whole chicken
• 7 large carrots, peeled
• 1 small yellow onion, minced
• 1/2 cup (75 g) olives (Mediterranean or Kalamata)
• 1/2 preserved lemon, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Instructions

 

• Combine the saffron, ginger, salt, pepper, olive oil, and canola oil in a large bowl. Set aside.
• Clean and thoroughly wash the chicken, then cut it into 8 pieces.
• Add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, massaging the marinade into the chicken.
• Cut the carrots in half and remove their yellow cores.
• Open the tagine and lay the onion on the bottom. Arrange the carrots over the onion.
• Lay the chicken with all of the marinade over the vegetables. Add 1 cup (240 ml) water and cover.
• Cook on very low heat for 1 hour. Check at the 30-minute mark to ensure the bottom is not dry. Add another ½ cup (120 ml) water if necessary.
• In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add the olives and the preserved lemon.
• Garnish with parsley to serve.

Notes

Excerpted from Heirloom Kitchen: Heritage Recipes and Family Stories from the Tables of Immigrant Women by Anna Francese Gass © 2019 Anna Francese Gass. Published by Harper Design, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Photos © 2019 by Andrew Scrivani.

Keyword chicken, Stew, Vegetables