Although I'm an advocate of slow cooking, it's not always the right technique. I've adapted this from a recipe I found in a book: when I cooked it to the letter of the recipe I had the unusual experience of finding that it tasted better when I tasted it during the cooking process than it did at the end. The long simmer at the end of the original recipe didn't seem to melange the flavours, but just render the chicken bland and with a not entirely pleasant texture.
Also, the original instructions made for an immensely long prep and cooking time - my version will do as a midweek supper.
So, first, cut up a chicken breast into bitesize chunks and marinate in a mixture of: one finely chopped onion, one crushed clove of garlic, one small finely chopped piece of ginger (or their preserved equivalents), a generous teaspoonful or two of dried coriander leaves (or fresh, if you wish), a pinch of saffron threads, the juice of one lemon, a glug of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Pop it all in the fridge to marinate - the original recipe said two hours, but 20 minutes is enough if you don't have two hours.
Get your tagine warmed up over a medium heat (or a saucepan, if you don't have a tagine, I just like playing with kitchen gadgets. Melt a knob of butter and a glug of olive oil, and transfer your chicken, turning until it's coloured on all sides - it won't brown, exactly, over a medium heat.
Then dump in the rest of the marinade, stir and cover with the lid.
Halve some olives (about 100g) and add them to the tagine. I found these nice ones in the cupboard - I think they were a Christmas gift - but a tin or jar of ordinary green olives from the supermarket is just fine.
Add some dried thyme and stir everything together.
Prepare your couscous according to the packet instructions.
By this time, the chicken is probably cooked through. If so, serve it up!
That's quite curious because my experience with slow cooking stews of sorts is always the longer the better. That said, my mum always says it is possible to overcook a stew even, she's not a fan of totally fall apart in your mouth textures, she wants meat to still retain its shape and texture so I guess that makes sense. So much to learn from the more experienced, and that's why I relaly think it's always good to ttrust your own experiences than a recipe in a book. Good on you for makign the observation! The tagine looks yummy! And SO JEALOUS you have a proper tagine pot!
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