Tagine of Chicken and Green Olives

The word ‘Tagine’ dates back to the 9^th century, first appearing in the collection 1001 Arabian Nights and refers to the earthenware pot rather than the dish itself. The conical lid is an ingenious creation that recycles condensed steam back into the dish. A tagine can contain anything you wish, vegetables, meat, legumes, dried fruits or any combination of the above, although Moroccan variations are traditionally heavily spiced with a sweet and sour flavour due to the common use of preserved lemon and dried fruits.  

• 6 chicken thigh cutlets or 10 chicken drumsticks
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 1 small piece of ginger, sliced
• 1 bunch of coriander roots, save leaves to finish
• 1/2 TBS ras el hanout
• 2 tablespoons of rose harissa or red harissa
• 1 red capscium sliced
• 1/2 cup chickpeas
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon of preserved lemon, sliced
• One pear sliced to finish
• A good handful of green olives
• 150g of prunes
• Coriander leaves

 Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees.
2. Take the ras el hanout and rub well into the skin of the chicken.
3. In a separate pan to the tagine* fry the chicken thighs skin down until the skin is brown and crispy, remove and place in the tagine. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, capscium, and coriander stem to the pan and cook until the onion is clear, add the spices and harissa and gently cook until fragrant.  
4. Add the aromatics and chickpeas to the tagine, deglaze the pan with the stock and add the lemon and prunes. Pour over the chicken, place the lid on top and slide the tagine into the oven for 1 - 1/2 hours. After one hour pop the green olives into the tagine. Check the chicken for doneness - if that's not a word - it should be.  
5. Once cooked, serve straight from the tagine, finish with slices of pear and coriander leaves.

 No tagine?  No problem - pop it all into a cast iron casserole dish!  This is delightful with a cous cous salad or just flat bread.