Chicken and Green Olive Tagine

It’s been a ridiculously long time since I last blogged. Work has kept me away from the kitchen with exception of old faves or frozen portions of previous cooking sessions, reheated.  When you work away all  week, most of the weekend is dedicated to turning around (washing, iron, pack) to come back and trying desperately to grab some time to relax before another busy week begins.

At last, this weekend allowed me time to think about what I wanted, adapt an idea and that all important spare time, to sit down and blog.

Whilst the weather was still warm I wanted something tasty, fresh, with a little heat and a nod towards North Africa. Although I’m not a big fan of food from that region this ticks all the boxes. Light, yet full of flavour, paprika adds depth and the tang from the lemon is marvellous. The olives give a bite of saltiness whilst all the time there’s a heady combination of tomatoes and cinnamon running through it. Something light like Rice ( in this case laced with cardamom) or couscous goes perfectly

8 Boneless Chicken Thighs

2 Onions Chopped

4 cloves of Garlic Chopped

Thumb size piece of Ginger finely chopped

2 Tbsp of Paprika

1 Tsp Tumeric

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

900 ml Chicken Stock

Juice ½ Lemon

150g Green pitted olives, halved

1 tin of Sainsbury’s Pomodori D’Oro Plum Tomatoes (Normal Plum tomatoes will do)

3 Preserved Lemons, Skin only chopped

1 Cinnamon Stick

Salt and Pepper

Add the dry spices, salt, pepper and 2 tbsps of oil to a large dish add, the chicken pieces, coat the chicken well, cover and leave for an hour, or overnight if possible

Heat the oven to 160 degrees. In a flameproof casserole dish add 2 tbsp of olive oil, place on the heat and fry the chicken, in batches, until golden then remove to a plate

Add the onions to the pan, and fry until soft, stir though the garlic and ginger, fry for one minute more. Pour the stock into the dish the chicken marinated in and stir gently to collect all of the marinade. Pour this into the casserole dish along with the lemon juice and tomatoes.

Add the chicken to the pan along with the cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, cover and place in the oven for around 2-3 hours. Stir around every 20 mins or so. With about an hour to go and the chopped lemons and Olives, season to taste.

When you’re ready, remove from the oven, taste season if required. If it’s not spicy enough add some chopped chilli, or if its too much the other way serve with plain yoghurt

This goes, with rice, flatbread, bread, couscous, anything really and of course bushels of coriander