Chicken Tagine with Dried Plums

Ingredients:

• 1 pound diced chicken (or lamb), trimmed of most of its fat
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 4 teaspoon La Kama Tagine spice
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 preserved lemon
• 12 dried plums (you could also use apricots or 3/4 Cup of raisins)
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons culinary argan oil
• 1/4 cup whole blanched almonds, lightly toasted for serving
• chopped coriander, for serving

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 300F. Place meat in a tagine. (You may wish to brown it in argan oil in a skillet first and transfer the browned meat to the tagine.) Add the rest of the ingredients and put on the lid. Place tagine on the lowest rung in the oven for
2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Enjoy!

Chicken and pumpkin Tagine

This delicious Tagine dish serves 4 people and can be made in a medium sized Tagine.
Ingredients:

• 8 chicken thighs 
• 1⁄2 kg pumpkin 
• 1 onion 
• 6 tablespoons culinary argan oil, 
• 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil 
• 2 pinches saffron pistils, 
• 1 pinch mace and salt

Preparation and cooking time: 1⁄2 hour
Finely slice the onion and brown with the chicken thighs in extravirgin olive oil for 10 minutes on a low flame. Put the spices in a glass of water and use to moisten the chicken. After boiling five minutes add the pumpkin diced in mediumlarge pieces. Cover and finish cooking. Season with the argan oil and serve immediately.


Note:
Mace is a spice from the same plant (Myristica fragrans, originally from the Molucca Islands) which provides nutmeg: this is the seed while mace is obtained from the surrounding reddish husk. It is used for savory dishes, in liqueurs and for preparing mixtures of spices, including curry.

Tagine of Lamb and Olives with Argan oil

This Moroccan tagine recipe calls for argan oil, a light, nutty oil which is exclusive to Morocco. While the argan oil imparts a unique flavor, olive oil or walnut oil can also be used. Beef or goat meat may be substituted for the lamb. Tagine of Lamb and Olives is best prepared in a traditional Moroccan tagine (use a diffuser if cooking stovetop), but good results can be achieved by slow-cooking in a heavy-bottomed pot. Avoid high heat when cooking with argan or walnut oil. Scoop up the tagine with Moroccan bread, and try serving it with Belgian French Fries heaped on top.


Serves four persons.

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs. (about 1 kg) lamb, cut into 2" to 3" pieces
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped medium
1 tablespoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
1/3 cup argan oil
small hanful of cilantro sprigs, tied together
1/2 cup green olives with pits
1 cup water
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 210 minutes
Total Time: 220 minutes

PREPARATION

Layer the sliced onions on the bottom of a tagine. In a bowl, mix the meat with the chopped onion and spices, and add the mixture to the tagine along with the water, argan oil and olives. Place the cilantro bouquet on top of the meat.

Cover the tagine, and place it on a diffuser over medium-low heat. It will take some time for the tagine to reach a simmer, but once it does, leave the tagine undisturbed for about three hours, using the lowest heat necessary to maintain the simmer.

There's no need to open the tagine unless you smell something burning. In that case, the heat was likely too high and a little water will need to be added to prevent scorching.
After the tagine has cooked for three hours, check on the meat. It should be very tender and easy to break apart with your fingers. If necessary, cook longer. When the meat is tender, reduce any excess liquid, and serve.

It's Moroccan tradition to serve the dish directly from the tagine in which it was cooked. It's best scooped up with crusty bread, with each person eating from his own side of the dish.

By Christine Benlafquih
Moroccan Food Expert

Chicken and pumpkin tagine, Choumicha Acharki

For 4 people

• 1⁄2 kg chicken breast 
• 1⁄2 kg pumpkin 
• 100 g cherry tomatoes 
• 1 onion, 
• 1 sprig parsley 
• 4 tablespoons argan oil 
• 1 teaspoon salt a pinch of pepper, ginger and saffron pistils

Preparation and cooking time: 2 hours
Cut the chicken breast into medium-large pieces. Pour two tablespoons argan oil into a pan and brown the finely sliced onion for five minutes. Add the diced chicken, spices (pepper, ginger, saffron) and parsley. Add a glass of water and cook on a low flame for 10 minutes. Dice the pumpkin into pieces the same size as the chicken. Add them with the cherry tomatoes to the pan and cook on higher flame for 15 minutes. As soon as the sauce is a creamy consistency, turn off the heat. Arrange the diced chicken, pumpkin and tomatoes on a dish. Cover with the sauce and complete with two tablespoons of argan oil before serving.

Enjoy!  

Tajine of kid with zucchini and pinenuts

Tajine of kid with zucchini and pinenuts
Gad Azran

For 4 people

• 600 g kid meat (shoulder and leg)
• 2 liters chicken stock
• 1⁄2 kg small zucchini,  
• 250 g white onions, 
• 2 cloves garlic, 
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 bunch parsley, 
• 100 g grilled pinenuts
• 15 saffron pistils, 
• 5 g powdered ginger, 
• 5 g turmeric, 
• 3 g black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salted butter, 
• 1 glass peanut oil, 
• 1 glass culinary argan oil

Preparation and cooking time: two hours and a quarter, plus marinating time

Cut the kid into small pieces and remove the fat. Leave the meat to macerate for four hours with the ginger, turmeric, pepper, bay leaves, garlic, butter and peanut oil. Put the macerated meat into a pan, cover with the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Lower the flame and cook for at least two hours.
In the meantime wash and cut the zucchini in two and finely slice the onions.
After 30 minutes cooking, add the onions and saffron to the meat and 10 minutes later, the zucchini. Finish cooking on a low flame.
Place the meat, vegetables and pinenuts on a serving dish. Add the argan oil and decorate with parsley.

Moroccan lamb tagine with Argan oil.

This authentic tagine recipe will take you to slow-cooked perfection in six simple steps – just kick back with a glass of wine until it’s ready.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1½ tbsp paprika
• 1½ tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 x shoulder of lamb, trimmed and cut into 5cm/2in chunks (about 1.1kg/2½lb meat in total)
• 2 large onions, grated
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp argan oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 570ml/1 pint tomato juice
• 2 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• 115g/4oz dried apricots, cut in half
• 55g/2oz dates, cut in half
• 55g/2oz sultanas or raisins
• 85g/3oz flaked almonds
• 1 tsp saffron stamens, soaked in cold water
• 600ml/1 pint lamb stock
• 1 tbsp clear honey
• 2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Preparation method

1. Place the cayenne, black pepper, paprika, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon into a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the lamb in a large bowl and toss together with half of the spice mix. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas2.
3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp of argan oil in a large casserole dish. Add the grated onion and the remaining spice mix and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes so that the onions are soft but not coloured. Add the crushed garlic for the final 3 minutes.
4. In a separate frying pan, heat the remaining oil and brown the cubes of lamb on all sides then add the browned meat to the casserole dish. De-glaze the frying pan with ¼ pint of tomato juice and add these juices to the pan.
   
   
   Watch technique1:18 mins
5. Add the remaining tomato juice, chopped tomatoes, apricots, dates, raisins or sultanas, flaked almonds, saffron, lamb stock and honey to the casserole dish. Bring to the boil, cover with a fitted lid, place in the oven and cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is meltingly tender.
6. Place the lamb in a tagine or large serving dish and sprinkle over the chopped herbs. Serve.

Top recipe tip

Argan oil is a Moroccan oil from the argan tree. You should be able to find it in specialist Argan shops, like Shop Morocco

By Antony Worrall Thompson

Natural Argan oil and Cream

Argan oil is well known for it's anti-ageing properties, Due to high levels of Vitamin E and saponins, which soften the skin. It can help to reduce wrinkles by restoring the skin's water lipid layer and it also cools and soothes inflammation. Its antioxidant properties help to neutralise free radicals. Yet it does all this quite naturally.