Le Perchoir blog

The latest recipe is a warming winter one from Morocco for these cold days – there’s quite a lot of preparation but it’s simple to cook and worthwhile:

Chicken Tagine – serves 6

You will need:
2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil
6 jointed chicken legs or 12 thighs/drumsticks
500 g carrots peeled & cut in chunks
500 g waxy potatoes, cleaned, peeled if you want but I prefer not to (charlottes or similar)
200 g sliced onions
400 g ripe tomatoes chopped or 1 large tin tomatoes
250 g sweet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock
12 chopped dried apricots
3 tbs clear honey
Large bunch of coriander
A few bay leaves
4 large garlic gloves
4 heaped tablespoons of Ras el Hanout
1 red chilli , deseeded and chopped finely
Salt & ground black pepper to taste
2 shallots finely chopped

You will need a large flameproof pan to contain all these ingredients when mixed together.

The first thing you do is make a spicy paste using a mini blender to blitz the chopped shallots, chilli, garlic, a little salt & pepper and the stalks of the coriander – put this paste to one side for later.

Heat the cooking oil in a large pan and brown all the chicken pieces – remove from pan when golden brown and put to one side.

Add the spice paste to the remaining oil in the pan and fry for a few minutes the add the Ras el Hanout powder and fry for a further few minutes.

Take all the chopped vegetables – onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots – plus the tomatoes & apricots and add them to the spices in the pan. Stir to stop them sticking and then add the stock, honey & bay leaves. Stir again a few times & then add the chicken pieces back into the pan.

Simmer the whole thing for an hour or so stirring occasionally, making sure it doesn’t stick.

Serve the tagine with a big bowl of buttered couscous, sprinkling the remaining coriander on top.