Cold Weather Calls For Chicken Tagine

So much for that touch of early Spring weather! Today Melbourne was back into the grips of an icey blast and straight back to winter. As much as I don't like the cold, it's another chance to cook up a nice warming casserole.

Not wanting anything too heavy, I thought a chicken tagine would be perfect. Slow cooked until the meat falls off the bone, full of beautiful flavours to nourish your soul.

The orignial recipe for this dish was actually from The Age Saturday magazine, Good Weekend. I think it was a Neil Perry recipe. I've modified it a bit as it was meant to use duck, but I could only get frozen whole ducks when I went looking and didn't really fancy jointing the bird myself.

I think it would taste lovely with duck too, as you'd have the extra richness from the meat, but chicken worked fabulously. I used marylands and cut them into two pieces each, but you could equally use skinless, boneless pieces to make the eating a bit easier. Cooking on the bone gives so much more flavour, but it is messier.

The chermoula that you marinate everything in was easy to make and had such a beautiful flavour that it would go well as a marinade for any sort of meat. It would probably go with prawns or a firm fleshed fish too.

I served the tagine with Israeli couscous, which are the large balls of semolina. You could use regular couscous or even rice, but I love the texture of the Israeli variety. Instead of cooking the almonds in the tagine, you could even lightly toast them and sprinkle on top with the fresh herbs when serving.

I know it's a big call, but I think this was one of the best tagines I have ever eaten. Let me know if you agree!

Chicken, Olive and Date Tagine

For the chermoula: 

1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup coriander leaves and stalks, washed
2 cups parsley leaves and stalks, washed
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs ground coriander
1 Tbs ground chilli
1 Tbs ground turmeric
2 tsp sweet paprika
100ml extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon

Roughly chop the onion, garlic, coriander and parsley and combine in a food processor with salt and spices.
Process until combined and then slowly pour in oil and lemon juice. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed together.
You should have a thick, aromatic paste. Add a little more oil if needed.

For the Tagine:

3 chicken marylands
Chermoula as per above recipe
1 red onion, sliced into 8 wedges
2 carrots, cut into 4cm chunks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
A large handful of green beans
A handful of blanched almonds
2 Tbs honey
juice of 1 lemon
8 fresh dates, pitted
A handful of large green olives, pitted
Fresh coriander and parsley for serving
Couscous or rice for serving

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
Chop chicken marylands in half to have a drumstick and thigh.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, onion, carrot, sweet potato, almonds and chermoula. Allow to sit for at least an hour to marinate.
In a tagine or large oven proof saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil and add the chicken mixture and marinade. Half cover with water and add honey and lemon juice.
Cover with the lid and bring to a gentle simmer, then transfer to the oven.
Bake for about an hour, then turn the chicken pieces to make sure they are cooking evenly.
Add the olives and dates and return to the oven for another 30 mins. By this stage the chicken should be falling off the bone and the dates should almost have dissolved into the sauce.
About 20 mins before you want to serve, add the beans and remove the lid to evaporate some of the liquid, if it's looking a bit too watery.
Cook the couscous or rice by your preferred method.
Serve the tagine over the couscous, sprinkled with extra chopped parsley and coriander.

And to drink.....

A beautiful dish with the amazing flavours of coriander, lemon and chilli and the sweetness of the dates and honey needs a wine with plenty of body, but also acidity. We had a couple of bottles of this 2004 Mount Pleasant 'Elizabeth' semillon in the cellar, and it was a great choice.

Served chilled, but not too cold, there was enough fruit flavour to match perfectly with the chicken. Being an aged wine, there was also a bit of butteriness. It went down way to easily!