Chicken Tagine

A picture of the served Chicken Tagine dish.
Photo by PattyCooks.

Diet
[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[O] Vegetarian: replace chicken + use veggie broth
[O] Pescatarian: replace chicken + use veggie broth
[O] Vegan: replace chicken + use veggie broth
[x] Gluten free
[x] Weight Maint
[x] Keto Diet: Limit the veggies, eat the meat
[x] Mediterranean
[O] Lectin Avoidance: potatoes + peas + tomato
[x] Oxalate Avoidance
[x] Purine Avoidance: do not eat the white meat, stick with dark

Chicken Tagine

A savory slow cooked stew of veggies and chicken braised to perfection.
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Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Moroccan
Keyword: Chicken Tagine, Morroccan Chicken Tagine
Servings: 8
Calories: 202kcal
Author: Patty

Equipment

  • Veggie Worksatation (cuting board, chef knife, discard bowl, damp towel)
  • Meat Workstation (meat cutting board, meat knife)
  • Slow Cooker + Lid
  • Small bowl for mixed seasoning
  • Mortar + Pestle
  • Measuring spoons + cups
  • Skillet + spatula

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 2 Chicken Breasts Boneless but with skins
  • 1 t Salt Season chicken parts
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1/4 C water

Seasonings

  • 1 t curry
  • 1/2 t Saffron threads Pulverize in mortar + pestle
  • 1 t chili powder
  • 1 t Kosher salt
  • 1 t Lemon pepper Home made is best

Veggies

  • 1/2 yellow onion sliced
  • 2 garlic Sliced + mashed
  • 2 T chopped parsley Fresh is best, dried is ok
  • 1 t Kosher salt
  • 3 Orange Carrots slice into fourths, 3” lengh
  • 2 Russet potato Peeled and sliced into coins
  • 1 Red Pepper Cut into slices
  • 1 Squash Small and quartered with skin

Last Bits of Flavor

  • 1.5 C chicken broth Use more if you have a large slow cooker
  • 1 Preserved lemon Thinly slice 1 lemon

Instructions

Mise en Place

  • NOTE: These instructions are for using a slow cooker, which can be easily modified for a soup pot on the stovetop as well. This is similar, but not the same if you were using an actual tagine.
  • First, set up the slow cooker, and set to high.
  • Slice the onions and layer on the bottom of the pot while it heats up.
  • Slice the garlic and crush with the back of your knife. Distribute the garlic over the onions.

Chicken

  • Set up a meat work station and cut a whole boneless, skin-on, chcken breast into two parts. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Heat a cast iron skillet, add 2T oil, and cook the chicken skin side down, in the skillet until browned. Then place the chicken into the slow cooker skin side up. (Yes I am only cooking on one side, but it is going into a pot for 3 hours so it will get cooked just fine.) Add 1/4C water into hot skillet to release all the crusty goodness and scrape that liquid into the slow cooker.
  • Then clean the meat station while the slow cooker continues to heat up.

Spices + Herbs

  • Measure out the saffron and crush in a mortor + pestle. Place into a bowl (or use the mortor as a bowl like I did) with the curry powder, chili powder, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
  • Chop the parsley. Set aside.

Veggies

  • Chopp the red bell pepper, deseed.
  • Cut the small squash into quarters.
  • Cut carrots into fourths in 3” lengths.
  • Peel and slice the potatoes into rounds. Cut these on the thin side, so they cookl; too thick and they will not be ready at the 3 hour mark, too thin and they disintegrate.

Build the Layers

  • On top of the onions and garlic, lay down the meat with fat side up. I find it works best of the fat drips into the meat on its way to the bottom of the pan.
  • Pyramid the carrots around the meat, and top with tomatoes. Chop half preserved lemons (be sure to remove the seeds) and mix those in with the tomatoes.
  • Then add the round potatoes around the pyramid. (With the potato peels I fried and served as a toping.)
  • Pour the seasonings all around the veggies. Then add the bell peppers around the top.
  • Sprinkle the top with the chopped parsley. Place the squash around the perimeter. Add the remaining preerved lemons.

Cook

  • Add the broth around the sides, cover and cook over high for ~3 hour.
  • If done properly you will never run out of liquid. However, since I have a glass lid on my slow cooker, I peek at the food every hour to make sure everything is ok. I do not lift the lid for that defeats the purpose of braising.

Meal Serving

  • Serve with 1/2C couscous, 2/3C rice, or more traditionally, flat bread for dipping into the communal pot of food.

Notes

This tasted very good and savory with hints of salty lemons. The remaining broth was very tasty and could be used in the dish, or saved to add complexity to a soup. Even after 3 hours the meat was tender and perfectly cooked.
To serve I plated into one of my flatter, plated sized bowls and tried to keep the layers in tacked. I moved the chicken out from under the veggies so they were on the side. Salt and additional herbs were served as well as good quality flatish bread. 
Skinless + Boneless Chicken: I normally cook this dish with bone-in, skin-on chicken for the added flavor. But I have also tried cooking this recipe with two boneless, skinless chicken breasts that were partially defrosted to see if they would keep up in a 3 hour process without drying out. While it worked, I would in the future use skin-on boneless breasts to up the flavor by the addition of rendered chicken fat.
Variations: I have done this recipe with red peppers and small squash, and tomatoes with peas.I have also used yams instead of potatoes and sliced zuchinni instead of the squash I used, and it all works well.

Nutrition

Calories: 202kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 1127mg | Potassium: 921mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 14527IU | Vitamin C: 49mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 2mg