Recipes, Chicken Recipes

Chicken thighs w/ preserved lemons & green olives

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This is a dish normally cooked on the hob top or over an open fire as a seasoned tagine should be able to take such direct heat. If worried about your tagine cracking, simply place it in the oven. This is an absolute favourite among tagines not least for the simplicity of its preparation. Taught to make this in Marrakech, it requires little cooking while delivering wonderful results. Making it in a tagine, revealed through the steam as the lid is lifted adds even more joy.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

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Directions

  1. Turn the oven to 170°C Fan.
  2. Scatter half the onion herbs, spices, olives, preserved lemon and little knobs of ghee into the bottom of a snug fitting casserole or tagine.
  3. Nestle the chicken thighs among all this and then scatter the remaining half on top. Sprinkle a little salt overall.
  4. Trail over the honey and then add enough water that it comes to the top of the chicken including preserved lemon juice and olive juice.
  5. Put the lid on.
  6. Cook the chicken for an hour and then remove the lid for another 15-20 mins and return to the oven that the sauce reduces a little.
  7. Serve with couscous and harissa.

Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.