Slow cooker Tajine

[Gardener]

Not for the purists perhaps, but the recipe came from a tub of preserved lemons.

I cooked it in the slow cooker and it was a hit. I had more lidl cuisses de poulet than the original recipe needed so it was adapted it a little.

8 Chicken thighs

2 lemons quarted ( the original recipe used preserved lemons but they aren't cheap and I used plain lemons the next time and they were fine)

3 or 4 Carrots and courgettes fairly thick cut;

4 (or more) potatoes halved or quartered depending on size though you can jiggle about with the veg)

green olives, I used a sachet of stoned apero olives.

good glug of olive oil.

6 soup spoons of tajine spices

large wine glass of water;

All of it goes in; give it a stir from time to time and adjust liquid as needed. The spices I used thickened with the water, chicken and courgette juices, you may need to add a little water but don't drown it.

Very nice with some bread to mop up the sauce.

As I said not for purists but a simple, economic and tasty meal and served a lot.

Mrs G

EDITTED needs a couple of chopped onions too.

[Clair]

Sounds good. Noted, thank you.

Re preserved lemons, they are really easy and quick to make at home, though you do need to make them 4-6 weeks before you need them!

On the plus side, they keep for months and months... [:)]

[Théière]

No almonds?

 

[NormanH]

I made a similar recipe a while ago, but did something wrong somewhere because it came out horribly salty.

Perhaps it was the fact that both the lemons and the olives have a  lot of salt in them, or because I reduced it too much.

I think another time I would add the olives near the end.

[Clair]

[quote user="NormanH"]I made a similar recipe a while ago, but did something wrong somewhere because it came out horribly salty.

Perhaps it was the fact that both the lemons and the olives have a  lot of salt in them, or because I reduced it too much.

I think another time I would add the olives near the end.[/quote]

You could also rinse the preserved lemons before adding them to the dish...

[mint]

Can someone please say what "tajine spices" are?

Personally, I am not that keen on olives, especially in cooking, though I have used a few black ones when making something à la Landaise.

I will nibble on a few "special" olives, those very expensive ones in oil and garlic that you buy in markets or épiceries  with a nice glass of something alcoholic but all our French friends seem to love eating the things.  I really cannot, for the life of me, see their attraction.

[Frederick]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Can someone please say what "tajine spices" are?

Personally, I am not that keen on olives, especially in cooking, though I have used a few black ones when making something à la Landaise.

I will nibble on a few "special" olives, those very expensive ones in oil and garlic that you buy in markets or épiceries  with a nice glass of something alcoholic but all our French friends seem to love eating the things.  I really cannot, for the life of me, see their attraction.

[/quote]

The spices are shown in this lot Sweet ..........I  have never tried Tagine cooking   in  a slow cooker.... but will now    Thanks for the tip

Meat or Chicken Tagine

Meat tagine recipes usually call for less expensive cuts, such as lamb necks, shoulders or shanks, cooked until they are very tender and falling off the bone, but any meat or chicken can be used. Some recipes call for a combination of lamb and chicken, cooked with a medley of seasonings and other ingredients, which can include olives, fruits, legumes and fresh or preserved lemons. Spices traditionally usually to flavour meat or chicken tagines include cinnamon, saffron, ginger, turmeric, cumin, paprika and the Moroccan spice blend Ras el hanout, which in Arabic means "top of the shop." Such a blend typically would include cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, chilli peppers, coriander, nutmeg, peppercorn and turmeric. Ras el hanout is often rubbed on the meat or chicken before cooking.

Vegetable Tagine

Vegetable tagine is another popular Moroccan dish, and can be served as a side dish or main vegetarian course, along with couscous topped with almonds or pine nuts, sliced scallions and Greek-style yoghurt. These recipes generally call for a mixture of vegetables. These can include spring vegetables, such as eggplant, cauliflower and zucchini, or root vegetables, which might consist of carrots, celery, radishes, sweet potatoes and turnips. The vegetables are seasoned with fresh coriander, paprika, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, salt and whole peppercorns and often combined with brine-cured, chopped green olives. A spice blend for these recipes can be made as long as a week ahead of time and stored airtight at room temperature.

Fish Tagine

Firm white fish fillets, such as halibut, mahi mahi, sea bass or orange roughy, is recommended for a Moroccan fish tagine. Spices might include saffron threads (adjusted to taste), sweet paprika and cumin, and red finger chilli peppers combined with cilantro, garlic, flat-leaf parsley and garlic. In some fish tagine recipes, a tomato chermoula is used, consisting of olive oil, cloves, onions, crushed tomatoes, lemon juice, parsley, cumin, coriander and salt and pepper. This serves as marinade in which the fish is placed for at least two hours before cooking. The dish is ready once the fish flakes easily and the vegetables are tender. The reserved marinade may poured over the fish before serving.

References

[just john]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Can someone please say what "tajine spices" are?

[/quote]

Tagine is a personal delight of mine and far too many variations to list; but this is one book to be highly recommended and should have all your answers as well as some recipes that I hope will delight you.

http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=371369&cm_mmc=PPCgoogleBase-_---_---_-Easy%20Tagine&utm_source=google&utm_medium=basefeed&utm_campaign=ppc+basefeed&gclid=CJvmwrOE37UCFaHHtAodnSsAVw

[mint]

Thanks a lot, Frederick.  Sounds like all of the contents of my spice drawer then?[:D]

It's very kind of you to include the veg and the fish tagines as OH is, famously on this forum anyway, a non meat-eater.

I always have fresh ginger in the freezer ready to grate (thanks to Fridgeman for giving me that tip) and have coriander seeds which, lacking a pestle and mortar, I bash with my rolling pin.

Unfortunately, I gave away a whole box full of strands of saffron to a neighbour and I find pine nuts horribly expensive.  Other than that, I think I have most of the spices you mention.

 

[NormanH]

I think that  as with curries you select your spices according to the meat or fish main ingredient [:)]

Sometimes as with the lemons in the first post fruit is included.

I have had lamb with apricot, and rabbit with prunes.

Basically a Tagine is just a slow cooker with a conical lid...

[Gardener]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Can someone please say what "tajine spices" are?

Personally, I am not that keen on olives, especially in cooking, though I have used a few black ones when making something à la Landaise.

I will nibble on a few "special" olives, those very expensive ones in oil and garlic that you buy in markets or épiceries  with a nice glass of something alcoholic but all our French friends seem to love eating the things.  I really cannot, for the life of me, see their attraction.

[/quote]

The tajine spices I use are ready blended and sold in a plastic pot, the marque is la conquete des saveurs . In my local supermarket, their range of spices is never with the schwartz ones etc but with the dried fruits and nuts and they are always much cheaper. I forgot to mention that the recipe has a couple of chopped onions in it too.

[NormanH]

I get mine loose in the market

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/spices_zps1bcaa6fd.jpg[/IMG]

[Chancer]

I have just done exactly that at the arab market at Amiens Nord!

I always go quite late to get the fruit and veg bradés when they start to clear up for lunch, when I returned there were few cars parked around me and within a radius of about 10 metres you could see the scorched tarmac from 5 burnt out cars and several I presume wheelie bins on the pavement where there were great gobs of green plastic marbling the surface.

I bought some chilli flavoured fried maize snacks and noted that its about 1/4 of the strength of that in the UK, I hope the spices arent going to be a dissapointment.

[mint]

Norman, I wish to say thank you for pointing out that different spices would work better with some dishes than others.  As you see, I am no Claudia Roden but I will definitely do a bit of googling before trying out any of the dishes mentioned here.

Also, do you have to eat these dishes with couscous?  I don't like couscous though I quite like bulgar wheat.

[NormanH]

You can eat them with any thing you like or alone, as I do as I am trying to avoid starchy foods.

I have seen them served with rice and even baked potatoes as a filling.

On the idea of 'couscous', don't forget that what people often mean by this is the grain or 'sémoule' when in fact the dish Couscous is made up of two or three parts.

The sémoule, the  spicy vegetable soup, and then the various meats or fish cooked in the liquid.

The idea of the two parts  being separate but that you need both is important in the film known in English as 'Couscous', but which in the original was called La Grain et le Mulet  "The grain and the Mullet"

A beautiful film shot in Sète which I know well, and which shows France as I know it with Arab families trying to make ends meet and not a word about religion [:)]

And of course Hafsia Herzi is sublime [:$]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1haDfEwX1Rw

[mint]

Thanks for the link.  I have, however, been struggling to download the update for Flash Player but, so far, without success so I hope I manage to watch the film.

You wouldn't believe it but, only last night, when I couldn't sleep, I was reading about the fishing industry in Sète.  Even in those days (I think they were talking about the 80s), fishing folk were already saying that it was "beaucoup d'heures pour un salaire peu élevé".

Goodness knows what it must now be like?

[NormanH]

Unfortunately it is only the trailer...but there is a brief scene of a  family table with a glorious couscous..

[Théière]

Still no mention of almonds?  All my recipes call for almonds to be included but none of you have mentioned any

[NormanH]

I might sprinkle flaked almonds over after cooking..

In any case as I said before it depends on the other ingredients. I don't think almonds would go very well with preserved lemons and olives as in the OP, but might well be nice with the lamb and apricot one I mentioned.

[NormanH]

I had a nice Couscous in the sun today [:)]

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/couscous_zpsbffefe2b.jpg[/IMG]

with the semoule alongside

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/semoule_zpsb5840390.jpg[/IMG]

It was sandwiched between two rather more  French dishes, a Salade de Gésiers

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/saladedegeacutesiers_zpse8cf8510.jpg[/IMG]

and a Tarte aux Framboises

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/Tarte_zpsbdd9c14c.jpg[/IMG]

sitting in my suntrap

[IMG]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh80/bfb_album/placeinthesun_zps901ee49e.jpg[/IMG]

[Chancer]

You cast a rather slim shadow Norman for someone that can put away that lot in one sitting [:D]

Can one ask for a doggy bag in France?

[NormanH]

They give me a plastic box :)))))))))))))))

[mint]

I'm sorry, I can't eat gésiers [:(]

But the rest of your lunch looks very nice, Norman [:)]

[Rabbie]

I see your barrel is handily placed[:D]

[NormanH]

You have been listening to Bananas..