tagine, without the pot.

I love buying kitchen gadgets . . . especially if it's something that I'll particularly find useful. Sometimes, I buy them because they're cute or pretty. My latest splurge was at World Market where I got myself a nice-sized tagine!

I've been itching to use it and finally found a couple of recipes that I wanted to try. So, I got everything that I needed and started to cook. Unfortunately, I never used the tagine. Turns out, before you use a tagine, the bottom portion needs to soak overnight or else it'll crack. Not only that, but apparently I also needed a "heat diffuser" so that it'll protect the clay pot from excess heat. Who knew that clay pots were so finicky??

Luckily for me, I had a heavy-bottomed pot to use as an alternative.

Despite not using the tagine, this dish actually turned out pretty well! I used this and this as guides and went from there. And since I didn't have some of the ingredients listed, I made do with what I did have in my fridge/pantry: Moroccan oil-cured olives, saffron water, giant golden raisins, and plain lemons.

For the side, I decided to make some roasted beets. It's a little weird since I've never come across any Moroccan dishes that uses beets as a side dish, but it was either use them or let them go bad. Thankfully, they paired surprisingly well with the lemony tagine. I also served this with some saffron rice since the hubby isn't too keen on couscous.

So, what's the verdict? Two thumbs up from the hubby! Yay!

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Moroccan Chicken Tagine
(adapted from Simply Recipes and My.Recipes)

For the Chicken:
3 to 4 pcs bone-in chicken thighs
3 tbsp Moroccan spice
2 tbsp honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the Tagine:
1 large or 2 medium onion, chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
3 to 4 carrots, chopped to 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup large golden raisins
1/4 cup pitted oil-cured olives
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 lemon rind, pulp removed and thinly sliced
1 tbsp saffron water (or a pinch of saffron)
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
salt and pepper, to taste
water, as needed
chopped parsley, for garnish

 
Marinate the chicken:
Combine chicken, spice, honey, garlic, and olive oil in a ziplock bag. Massage the marinade into the chicken to make sure it's evenly coated then marinate overnight (or up to 2 days) before making the tagine.

Make the tagine:
On cooking day, heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, along with marinade liquid. Cook the chicken until lightly browned then turn over and repeat with the other side. Once the chicken is lightly browned on both sides, add the remainder of the ingredients except for broth.

Cook mixture for about ten minutes. Add broth, scraping the bottom of the pan, then cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and tender. If the dish is too dry, add water as needed and cook for a further few minutes. Season with salt and pepper, as needed, then serve garnished with parsley.

Makes 4 servings.

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Honey Roasted Beets
(makes 4 servings)

5 small red beets, quartered
5 small golden beets, quartered
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp fresh thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar, flavored or plain
2 tbsp chopped parsley

 
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Whisk together olive oil, honey, and thyme. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss into beets then evenly spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet.

Roast for 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Remove from oven then add vinegar and parsley. Toss to coat, then transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle pan juices over beets then serve.

easy moroccan.

Just a quick and easy dinner: Morrocan marinaded chicken with lots of garlic and a hint of honey then served with some boxed Parmesan couscous fancified with oil-cured olives, jumbo golden raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, and a good amount or peppery arugula. Dinner is served!

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Easy Moroccan Chicken
(makes 2 servings)

1 tbsp Moroccan spice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp honey
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
4 bone-in chicken legs and/or thighs

 
Combine spice, olive oil, honey, and garlic. Place chicken in a Ziploc bag and add marinade. Massage marinade into the chicken then leave in the fridge overnight.

The following day, remove chicken from Ziploc bag and place skin-side down on a foil-lined baking pan. Set oven to broil and cook chicken for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken so that it's skin-side up and continue cooking for another 10 minutes or until juices run clear.

recipe in pictures: soda bread

ah, soda bread. this was such an easy recipe to do. about the only hard thing was waiting for the dried fruit to soak up the liquer and then waiting for it to bake. used this recipe but used whatever liquor i had in the kitchen (it was an herb-based one) and dried mixed fruit that was lying in a bag begging to be used up. verdict? nice and moist and almost reminiscent of bisquick in taste. brought half of the loaf over to my sister's house and her and her boyfriend really liked it. yay for sharing! :D

 
Irish Soda Bread with Whiskey Soaked Raisins and Whiskey Butter Syrup
(from What's Baking in the Barbershop?!)

For bread:
4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for raisins)
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (cut into 1/2" pieces)
1 and 3/4 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 large or extra large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1 cup dried raisins
1/3 to 1/2 cup whiskey

For whiskey butter sauce:
remaining whiskey-raisin liquid after raisins have been soaked in it
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

For Bread:
Combine the raisins and whiskey in a small, shallow bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least six hours or overnight (I let mine sit overnight). When ready to make the bread, drain the raisins from the liquid (but SAVE the liquid for the whiskey butter syrup!).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl. Add the butter, and mix on low speed until the butter is mixed into the flour mixture. With a fork, lightly beat together the buttermilk, egg, and orange zest (if using; it's okay to omit the orange zest). With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the liquids to the flour/butter mixture until well-incorporated. Toss the raisins (that have been removed from the whiskey-raisin liquid) with one tablespoon of flour to coat them. Then add them into the dough. The dough will be rather wet.

Using a well-floured board, knead the dough several times, and form into a circle (you can make one large loaf, if you'd like - or two smaller loaves like I did this time - or you can make scones like I did in this blog post). Place the loaf or loaves on prepared baking sheet, and lightly form an X in the center with a knife. If making one large loaf, bake for 45 to 55 minutes. If making two smaller loaves, check on the loaves after about 30 minutes.

When the loaf is done, a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf will come out clean. Also, if you tap on the side of the bread, it should sound hollow. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the whiskey butter syrup:
Add the remaining whiskey-raisin liquid to a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Once it's simmering, add the two tablespoons of butter. Turn the heat down to medium low and mix until the butter is fully melted. The mixture may begin to foam, and when it does, use a spoon to skim the foam off the top. Drizzle the remaining whiskey butter syrup on a slice of your freshly baked soda bread.