Chicken Tagine with Dried Fruits and Apples

Being a food blogger means being part of a community, and a few weeks ago, we lost a member of that community. Daniel Saraga, author of The Haggis and the Herring, died suddenly, leaving behind his family including his wife, Meredith and their three children. You can read his wife's beautiful eulogy of him here on his blog.

While we did not know Daniel, we knew of him through the Secret Recipe Club. Today, members of the club are revealing posts in which they recreated some of Daniel's recipes as a tribute to him, and we wanted to be a part of that. When we browsed through his extensive recipe list, it was difficult to choose one in particular because they all sounded so good, but we had a rough weekend ourselves, including a death in the family, and so we went with a recipe that we could make with items we already had in the house, and that was his Chicken Tajine with Apples.

Since we were determined not to not have to go out to the market, we borrowed a couple small apples from neighbors D and J, went without the almonds, and used chopped dried apricot paste rather than dried apricots, but we imagine the end result was very similar. As the tagine cooked, the house filled with the scent of sensual spices such as cinnamon and cumin. The chicken was moist and tender, and the sauce, punctuated with apples, dates and raisins, was teasingly exotic. As we sat down to eat, we toasted Daniel and wished our condolences to his family, as we do here with this post.

Chicken Tagine with Dried Fruits and Apples

slightly adapted from The Haggis and the Herring

Ingredients:

2 apples, cored, peeled, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
pinch kosher salt
1 pound chicken legs and/or thighs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups chicken broth
pinch of saffron, infused in a tablespoon of hot water
2 tablespoons dried apricot paste, chopped

3/4 cup raisins
4 dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup couscous, prepared according to package directions

Core, peel and slice apples into thin wedges, toss in lemon juice and set aside. Combine cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and sprinkle onto chicken. Heat oil on medium in the bottom of a tagine or large pot, and brown chicken on both sides. Remove chicken and set aside. Sprinkle onions, shallots and garlic with ground ginger and saute in the same pot for 2-3 minutes. Place chicken back in the pan and add broth, saffron, and chopped apricot paste. Bring to a boil and place cover on tagine or pot; let simmer on medium for 25-30 minutes. Add apples (with lemon juice), raisins, and dates, reduce to medium-low and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Serve over prepared couscous.

Tagine of Golden Chicken with Potatoes and White Beans

We purchased a tagine last winter and have done a few experiments with it, making flavorful meals in this earthenware coned dish. Why is it shaped this way? The conical cover rests on the flat base and allows for any condensation that occurs during cooking to return to the base and braise the meat and/or vegetables in it. In this way, any meals made in a tagine are truly one-pot wonders. You can even serve the tagine in the base!

This week's wonder is adapted from the cookbook 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker. The golden color on the chicken comes from the aromatic spices turmeric, saffron, and cinnamon, which also offer plenty of exotically warm flavor. The potatoes and white beans round out the meal to make it a hearty one; we're sure you could use other root vegetables instead of potatoes, or chickpeas instead of white beans (as Crocker does). A slight problem we encountered was that our tagine is on the smaller side and we had a bit of overflow (not to mention a very small, very brief fire...) during cooking. All that did was set us off in search of an even bigger tagine!

Cook onions and potatoes in tagine first

Remove vegetables and brown chicken in spice mixture, meat side down

Turn chicken, add cinnamon stick and broth and bring to a boil

Return vegetables to tagine

Cover and simmer

Add white beans, cover, and continue to cook until done

Tagine of Golden Chicken with Potatoes and White Beans

slightly adapted from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons melted butter

20 strands saffron

1 tablespoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, peeled and quartered

2 medium potatoes, diced

salt to taste

4 chicken thighs

1 cup chicken broth

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 of a 14-ounce can of white beans, drained and rinsed

parsley for garnishing

In a bowl, combine melted butter, saffron and turmeric; set aside. In the bottom of flameproof tagine, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and potatoes and cook for five minutes, stirring often; remove vegetables from tagine and set aside. Add chicken, meat side down, to tagine and cover with spice mixture. Cook for 5-6 minutes, until chicken is browned on meaty side. Turn chicken over. Add broth and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Return onions and potatoes to tagine, cover with tagine lid, reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring once. Stir in white beans, replace lid and simmer for additional 15 minutes until beans are heated and chicken is cooked through. Discard cinnamon and serve garnished with parsley.

Meatless Monday: Spicy Chickpea and Carrot Tagine

We've had a tagine for a few months now and had yet to use it. Until today. While browsing various vegetarian-themed recipe sites, the word "tagine" kept popping up, and it was a welcome reminder of that cone-shaped earthen-ware vessel atop our cabinets. What a perfect tool for Meatless Monday, especially with some spicy ingredients to give our boring, stressed-out weeknight some pizzazz!

Although only told politely asked to bring some carrots home for our tagine, being the good husband that he is, Chris also bought some fluffy naan and a pair of pretty tongs etched with flowers to go with our Middle-Eastern meal. We cooked everything inside the tagine on the stovetop. It was very easy and quick - even the cleanup! The aromatic spices we chose gave the dish a lot of warmth and layers of flavor, and perfumed our kitchen with an enticing scent. A touch of honey at the very end played up the natural sweetness in the raisins and carrots. It was a deliciously exotic experiment, and we would definitely make it again, perhaps over some couscous or basmati rice.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 star anise pods

2 piece dehydrated galangal* (see note)

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon zataar

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained

1/4 cup raisins

2 carrots, peeled and julienned

2/3 cup water

salt and black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon honey

*note: we used the galangal because we didn't have any ginger...otherwise we would have used a teaspoon of fresh chopped ginger

In your tagine (or if you don't have a tagine, you could just make this in a large saucepan) heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic until they are soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in all the spices and continue to cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes to allow the spices to open up. Add the chickpeas, raisins and carrots, stirring gently to incorporate all the ingredients. Pour in the water and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the honey a couple of minutes before it is ready to be served.

Sauteing the onions, garlic and spices in the base of the tagine

After adding the carrots, raisins, chickpeas and water,

it's ready to be covered and cooked over medium-low heat