Chicken tagine

My girlfriend went to Morocco on holiday last year, enjoyed the food and came back with the essentials - saffron, ras-el-hanout, smoked paprika and a tagine. Saffron's a bit of a luxury ingredient but it can be left out of this with no ill-effect.

 

The first thing to do is prepare the marinade.  I'm on nights at the moment so I did this when I got home in the morning, slept all day and was ready to cook when I got up.  All you do is put a clove of garlic, a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful each of smoked paprika, turmeric and cumin seeds in a pestle-and-mortar and crush them all up together.

 
Now add a good glug of olive oil and spread the whole lot over two chicken thighs.  Cover them up (I have a pyrex dish with a lid, but a bowl covered with clingfilm will do nicely) and leave them in the fridge for at least a few hours and preferably overnight.

The tagine is a lovely object (often seen in the background of my photos) and a fun thing to cook with, but it's not an essential kitchen tool.  I wanted to use it for this, but it takes forever to warm up and I was running a bit short of time so when it was time to cook the tagine I just used a big saucepan.

First step is to chop an onion and cook it in olive oil and butter over a low heat, until soft.

Next, we want nice crispy chicken skin so push the onions to one side of the pan, turn the heat up a bit and place the chicken thighs in, skin side down.  Leave them alone until the skin's crispy and brown.  Remember Gordon Ramsay's advice - if it's brown it's cooked, if it's black it's fooked!

Now turn the chicken over and add water to half-way up the chicken thighs.  Then add a few slices of preserved lemon - they're popular in Moroccan cooking and readily available in English supermarkets - and a pinch of saffron.  Season, put the lid on, turn the heat down as low as it will go and leave for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, check the chicken is cooked through, add a small tin of olives and leave the lid off to let it reduce a little.  Prepare couscous to serve it on - this takes five minutes or less.  On the packet of couscous I have, it recommends 50g per person but we find this far too much and we normally use 60g between the two of us.

Taste verdict
Very delicate flavours, and a nice contrast with the olives and lemon.

Financial verdict
2 chicken thighs - £1.40
An onion - 20p
Small tin of pitted black olives - 44p
Spices, preserved lemon, couscous - pennies, from store

£1.02 per person

The skinny
Make the marinade
Take a clove of garlic, a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful each of cumin seeds, ground turmeric and smoked paprika.  Crush together in a pestle and mortar.
Add a glug of olive oil and rub the paste all over two chicken thighs.
Cover and leave in the fridge for at least a few hours, overnight if possible.

Cook the tagine
Fry a chopped onion over a low heat until soft.
Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, and turn up the heat until you have crispy brown skin.
Turn the thighs over and add water to a level half-way up the thighs.
Add a few slices of preserved lemon, a pinch of saffron, season with salt, put the lid on and leave over a low heat for 25 minutes.
Check the chicken is cooked through.
Add a small tin of pitted olives.
Prepare couscous.
Serve.

WeightWatchers ProPoints
9