Recipe: Travel to Northern Africa with the flavours of this delicious Moroccan chicken dish

I absolutely love the flavours of Morocco and have amazing memories of a trip to Marrakech a few years ago (yes, I rocked the Casbah).

Moroccan spice blends are heavenly aromatic and usually cooked with meat, fish or vegetable in a tagine. A tagine a traditional Moroccan cooking vessel made of ceramic or unglazed clay with a round base and low sides. A cone-shaped cover sits on the base during cooking. If you don’t have a tagine, no worries, this dish works perfectly fine in a deep skillet with a lid. If you are in the market for a new cooking vessel – I am crazy about my Staub cast iron saute pan/braiser and seriously cook everything in it.

Preserved lemons are one of those delightful, uncommon tastes that will soon have you addicted. These pickled salted lemons are used in middle eastern and Moroccan cooking and really add a unique flavour. Preserved lemons are very easy to make at home. It takes only a few minutes to pack the lemons with kosher salt and cover them in a jar, but you’ll need to allow about a month or more for the lemons to soften and pickle. Here is a lesson on how to make them yourself:  How to Make Preserved Lemons

Moroccan Chicken with Preserved lemon

3 1/2 lbs bone-in, chicken thighs
1/2 tsp saffron threads, ground into powder in a mortar and pestle
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cinnamon
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch cinnamon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 cups chicken stock
2 preserved lemons peel only, pulp discarded, sliced thinly
1 cup pitted green olives

(I also threw in a sliced small zucchini with the onion for extra veg)

1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro for garnish
Salt and pepper

Dry chicken with paper towels and lightly salt. Mix together saffron powder, cumin, paprika, turmeric, ginger, cayenne pepper and cinnamon together in a small bowl then rub the spice mixture evenly onto the chicken pieces. Let sit in fridge for 1-8 hours.

Take the chicken out ½ hour before cooking to bring temperature closer to room temperature. Heat olive oil in deep skillet on medium high heat then sauté the onion for 3 minutes or until translucent (add zucchini and sauté another 2 minutes). Add the garlic and continue to sauté another minute. Arrange the chicken pieces snugly inside the skillet then pour enough stock to almost cover.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, add olives, preserved lemons and then simmer for an hour or until super tender.

Serve on a bed of couscous sprinkled with fresh chopped cilantro.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor.