Anissa Helou’s Chicken Tagine with Olives and Preserved Lemons (D’jaj M’chermel)

The recipe for this wonderful Moroccan chicken tagine is adapted from Feast: Food of the Islamic World by Anissa Helou, which we reviewed in May 2020. Helou’s recipe calls for poussins or Cornish hens; we adapted it to use a cut-up conventional chicken — either a whole one, or whole legs or skin-on, bone-in thighs. Castelvetro, Cerignola and Kalamata olives all work great with this dish, but use whatever you love. If you need preserved lemons, we suggest these.

You can cook the dish in a tagine — whether a traditional earthenware one or a modern enamel cast-iron one — but Helou notes that many Moroccan home cooks cook the tagine in a pot, then transfer it to a beautiful tagine before serving. Ideally you’d serve it with home-made Moroccan bread, as Helou suggests; you could also serve it with pita or naan, or even a baguette. You do want some kind of bread, though, because the sauce is so delicious you’ll want to sop it all up.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Generous pinch of saffron threads

1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Sea salt

1 whole cut-up chicken (cut into 4, 6 or 8 pieces), or 2 whole chicken legs and two breasts, or 3 pounds of bone-in, skin-on thighs or whole legs

2 medium onions (10-11 ounces total), grated on the fine (but not finest) side of a box grater

1/4 bunch Italian parsley, most of the thick stems discarded, very finely chopped

1/4 bunch cilantro, most of the bottom stems discarded, very finely chopped

1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Juice of 1 lemon

1 preserved lemon, peel only, rinsed and cut lengthwise into medium-thin julienne

7 ounces unpitted green or Kalamata olives, or a mixture of the two

Instructions

1. In a large pot, braiser or tagine, combine the garlic, ginger, cumin, paprika, saffron, black pepper, ground cinnamon (if using) and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the chicken pieces and rub well with the spice mixture. Place the pieces skin-side-up.

2. Add the grated onions, parsley, cilantro, cinnamon stick (if using) and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the oil and add the butter. Partially cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over (if you like your breast meat juicier, you can remove and set it aside at this point for 10 minutes and add it back in the next step). Continue simmering 10 more minutes with the cover off, until the dark meat is cooked through and the broth has become very concentrated.

3. Gently turn the chicken pieces so they’re skin-side up. If you have removed the breasts, add them back in, skin-side up. Add the lemon juice, preserved lemon peel and olives, spooning sauce all over the chicken. Simmer over medium heat, uncovered, for 10 more minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

4. Transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish or tagine. Spoon the sauce and olives all over. Serve very hot with Moroccan or other bread.