Hola,

I have been a little ‘under the weather’ the last few days so I haven’t had chance to upload my chilli jam recipe…don’t worry it will be online soon. So instead I though I would re-blog an old recipe that you may have missed. It’s an easy recipe to make and not loads of ingredients but it is very tasty. As Nispero’s are probably hard to get now you can replace with apricots, fresh if possible otherwise dried are fine.

Also in this recipe you can use my homemade organic tomato paste recipe:

https://lululemonandlace.com/recipes/pickles-chutneys-jams-and-pastes/organic-tomato-paste/

For a printable version of this recipe please click the below link:

https://lululemonandlace.com/recipes/morocco/chicken-tagine-with-rosemary-and-nisperos/

Have a good weekend

Lulu xxxx

28th April 2015

Once again we had some Nispero’s to use up, so after racking my brain for what to do I remembered a Tagine recipe I cooked for friends a while ago which had dried apricots in, I thought I would give this a go using Nispero’s replacing the Apricots. What I love about this Tagine is that it isn’t overloaded with spices yet it still tastes delicious. Sometimes less is more!!!

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken (I bought this already chopped up into pieces)

1 Onion Finely Diced

320g Nispero’s Halved

2 Tbsp Oil

25g Butter

50g Ginger Grated (Grate this straight into the pan with its skin)

1 Chilli Finely Diced

1 Rosemary Sprig Finely Chopped

2 Rosemary Sprigs Halved

2 Cloves Garlic Grated

2 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Tbsp Honey

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Tomato Puree

2 Tins Plum Tomatoes

Handful of Basil green & Purple

Method:

I removed the skin from the chicken as it produces a lot of oil. I left the skin on the wings only. I prefer to use chicken on the bone as the meat is so much more tender than the breast. You can just use thighs but I think its nice to eat all of it!

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.

In a deep pan/tagine heat the oil and the butter add in the onion, ginger, chillies and rosemary. Soften the onions, you will already smell the aroma it instantly smells good!

Now grate in your garlic.

Once the onions are soft add in the rest of the rosemary and the cinnamon.

Stir this through and then add in your chicken and the salt.

Brown the chicken.

Now pour in your nispero’s and the honey.

Stir this well, then add in your puree.

Coat the chicken in the puree then pour in the tin tomatoes.

Let this bubble away for a few minutes, if the tomato liquid does not cover the chicken add a little water. Now pop it in the oven uncovered.

Check on it after about half an hour, there might be a lot of oil, I skim this off…

I cooked this for about an hour, the chicken should be falling off the bone, the bones will be soft, the sauce with be rich and thicker.

Now you’re ready to serve up!! Sprinkle over the basil leaves and extra sprigs of rosemary for decoration.

I served this with homemade Moroccan flatbread and roasted vegetable couscous, recipe’s are below.

(This chicken tagine recipe originated from a book by Ghilli Bason ‘Tagines & couscous’)

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 Flatbread:

I used a mix of two recipes I found online:

http://moroccotravelblog.com/2011/04/16/moroccan-bread-flatbreads-and-pancakes-recipes-for-msemen-and-meloui-your-morocco-travel-guide/

http://muslimahinsolace.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/food-i-make-and-eat-mafrouk-moroccan.html

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour (340 g)

1/2 cup fine semolina (90g)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

For folding:

1/2 cup fine semolina

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add 1 1/2 cups of warm water, and mix to form a dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes until the dough is very smooth and elastic. I popped this in the Kitchen Aid.

It took around 10 minutes on highest speed to get this to be smooth and elastic.

Now cover with Cling film and leave to rest in a warm place for about 25 minutes.

I then cut the dough into 4 and pressed them into shape with my hands and not a rolling-pin.

Once you have them as thin as you can pull the corners into the middle each time you do this sprinkle with semolina. You’ll be left with small rectangles.

Then heat a skillet (brush with a little oil)

With your hands again press the dough to form a large rectangle then fry until brown and bubbly.

Couscous

My Aunt Roasted red onions, aubergine, courgette, rosemary, garlic and mushrooms and oil in the oven.

I used half a pack of couscous for 4 people. Pop it in a pan that has a lid and pour over boiling water so it just covers the couscous, then place the lid on it for 5 minutes.

Then drop a knob of butter in and squeeze half a lemon give it a mix. Tip the couscous straight into the roasted veg tray and mix well.

Viola xx

xxxx