A few months ago I 'broke the budget' and bought a tagine. Actually they were on sale and we'd only been out to a local Moroccan restaurant a few nights before so I was inspired. I bought a Microstoven tagine (25cm) and it cost about $30 (down from $60). You can see why I couldn't resist!
The great thing about the Microstoven is that it can be used on the hotplate, that way you can cook off and caramelise your flavours before they cook through in the oven.
The first dinner I cooked in the tagine was a lamb dish and I was so disappointed. I didn't give the lamb enough time to cook and it was tough. I have since cooked a chicken dish and tonight we'll have another chicken dish.
ingredients
serves 2
2 onions
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tspn each of cumin seeds, tumeric and cinnamon
2 tspn coriander seeds
2 chicken marylands
1 small potato, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
500ml homemade salt reduced chicken stock
10 dates
2 halves homemade preserved lemon, cut into narrow strips
For the cous cous
500g cous cous
2 tblspns olive oil
2 tblspns lemon juice
Butter
Pepper
Salt
optional: a few threads of saffron
method
Preheat the oven to 160ºc. Cook off the onion, garlic, tumeric, cinnamon, coriander and cumin seeds. Remove from the heat and add the chicken. Brown the chicken. (These organic marylands are cheap as chips and a good alternative to thigh fillets.)
Remove the chicken and return the onion and spices to the pan. Add the diced vegetables, preserved lemon and return the marylands to the tagine. Pour in 200ml stock around the ingredients of the tagine and nuzzle the dates in between the chicken and vegetables. Pop a couple under the chicken too. Sprinkle a couple of saffron threads on the chicken before placing it in the oven for an hour and a half.
The great thing about the Microstoven is that it can be used on the hotplate, that way you can cook off and caramelise your flavours before they cook through in the oven.
The first dinner I cooked in the tagine was a lamb dish and I was so disappointed. I didn't give the lamb enough time to cook and it was tough. I have since cooked a chicken dish and tonight we'll have another chicken dish.
ingredients
serves 2
2 onions
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tspn each of cumin seeds, tumeric and cinnamon
2 tspn coriander seeds
2 chicken marylands
1 small potato, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
500ml homemade salt reduced chicken stock
10 dates
2 halves homemade preserved lemon, cut into narrow strips
For the cous cous
500g cous cous
2 tblspns olive oil
2 tblspns lemon juice
Butter
Pepper
Salt
optional: a few threads of saffron
method
Preheat the oven to 160ºc. Cook off the onion, garlic, tumeric, cinnamon, coriander and cumin seeds. Remove from the heat and add the chicken. Brown the chicken. (These organic marylands are cheap as chips and a good alternative to thigh fillets.)
Remove the chicken and return the onion and spices to the pan. Add the diced vegetables, preserved lemon and return the marylands to the tagine. Pour in 200ml stock around the ingredients of the tagine and nuzzle the dates in between the chicken and vegetables. Pop a couple under the chicken too. Sprinkle a couple of saffron threads on the chicken before placing it in the oven for an hour and a half.
There are a few benefits of having a husband who has to jet-set for work. He returns with kitchen
supplies from across the globe. This saffron came home after a recent trip to Greece.
Serve with freshly chopped vietnamese mint, parsley and basil stirred through cous cous.
I will never make cous cous the way I used to (in a saucepan) after I watched Ottolenghi on SBS two weeks ago. Below is his method for cooking fluffy cous cous. This recipe requires 500g of cous cous. I halved this recipe for the two of us and used he remaining chicken stock inc combination with water.
Ottolenghi's cous cous
Line the base and sides of a roasting tin, approximately 20 x 30
centimetres, with baking paper and put in the couscous, along with ½ a
teaspoon of salt. Pour over 800ml of boiling water and 2 tablespoons of
olive oil. Stir and leave to soak for 10 minutes, covered with foil. Dot
the soaked couscous with the butter cubes, cover with foil again and
bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and fluff up with a
fork.
Once the couscous has cooled slightly transfer it into a large bowl.
Finally add 2 tblspn lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper
and mix gently. Finish with a sprinkle of herbs.
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