Pat Crocker’s New Cookbook “150 Best Tagine Recipes”

Tagine: A tagine is the name for both the cooking vessel and of the recipes themselves. Tagines are specialty dishes from North Africa, and specifically, Morocco. As an avid fan of Moroccan food and its fragrant flavors, the easy-to-prepare factor of tagine recipes is an added bonus.

If you’ve never seen a tagine, it’s a large cooking pot with a cone-shaped cover to act as an oven, as the entire lid is totally sealed to retain heat and moisture, which not only prevents the dish from drying out, but also allows slow-infusion of flavors through the long cooking process, resulting in an aromatic combination of taste and texture. The base and lid are formed entirely of a heavy clay, usually painted or glazed. You can buy a tagine at many specialty kitchen stores and online retailers.

Most Moroccan recipes you’ll find are quite affordable – especially considering it’s a “special occasion” flavor for most American families. Several Moroccan recipes use chicken as its main protein – but don’t let that bore you as they don’t sacrifice flavor! Pat Crocker, an international award-winning cookbook author, culinary herbalist and professional home economist just released a cookbook this month: “150 Best Tagine Recipes including tantalizing recipes for spice blends and accompaniments”. The 240-page cookbook features 16 color photos for some of the cookbook’s stand-out dishes. You’ll find recipes including:

• Dips
• Sauces
• Souk food (authentic street food of the spice markets)
• Salads
• Main courses broken down by protein including: Poultry, Lamb, Beef, Fish and Seafood
• Sides
• Traditional beverages and sweets
• And a section on flavor combinations and spice blends

They’ve offered to share one of their recipes with us: the Golden Chicken with Potatoes and Chickpeas Tagine.

Chicken with Potatoes and Chickpeas Tagine

Check it out below:

Tip: For chicken pieces, you can use breasts, legs, thighs or drumsticks.

You’ll need: Medium or large tagine

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 20 strands saffron
• 1 tbsp ground turmeric
• 3 tbsp avocado or olive oil
• 2 onions, cut into quarters
• 4 medium potatoes, cut into wedges
• 4 to 6 skinless bone-in chicken pieces (about 2.5 lbs) (see Tip)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 piece (2 inches) cinnamon stick
• 1can (14 to 19 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine melted butter, saffron and turmeric. Set aside.
2. In the bottom of a flameproof tagine, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and potatoes and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add spice mixture and chicken, meaty side down, sliding around and moving vegetables away from bottom so that flesh is in direct contact with bottom of tagine. Cook for about 5 minutes or until chicken is browned on meaty side.
3. Using tongs, turn chicken over. Add broth and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Cover with tagine lid, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring once, for 25 minutes.
4. Stir in chickpeas and parsley. Replace lid and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until chickpeas are heated through and chicken is longer pink inside for breasts and juices run clear for thighs. Discard cinnamon stick prior to serving.

*Excerpted from 150 Best Tagine Recipes by Pat Crocker © 2011 Robert Rose Inc. robertrose.ca Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Order your own copy of “150 Best Tagine Recipes” online at robertrose.ca.

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