TAGINE

O.K so I bought myself a tagine the other day because it was 50% off and I figured, hey what’s the best way to test out a new tagine? Cook a tagine in it.

So, just to clarify, tagine is the name of the stew itself and the pot in which it’s cooked.

Being a chef and all, I didn’t want to follow any kind of recipe or anything as that would have been just too easy, so I decided to start by flicking through a Moroccan cook book and make a list of all the ingredients that jumped out at me as being, well, Moroccan.

I ended up with a list of about 25 basic vegetables and spices that struck me as having that North African vibe and went from there.

The problem I have with a lot of recipes is that they often call for very specific ingredients that your kitchen is invariably missing. When I feel inspired to cook at home on the spare of the moment I rarely want to have to pop out to the supermarket because I’m missing rice wine vinegar or unsalted almonds and although I try to keep the cupboards stocked, it is impossible to be prepared for every cooking whim I might have. Often you just have to make do with what you’ve got. So that’s what I did.

I went down the list checking the fridge and cupboards for what items I had. Although I would have preferred lamb, there was chicken in the fridge. A few chickpeas would have gone down really well but there were none to be found. Fresh chili would have worked well but in its absence a spoon full of Chinese chili paste served as a perfect substitute.

When I had finished my scavenger hunt I looked at all the ingredients gathered together and was pleasantly inspired by what I had.

Chicken drumsticks

Butternut squash

Courgette

Red pepper

Artichoke

Onions

Dried apricots

Prunes

Honey

Cinnamon stick

Cumin

Coriander

Chili paste

Tinned plum tomatoes

If you are some kind of expert and are reading this, I never said it was an authentic tagine so don’t judge me because I’m putting dried fruits and red peppers together or mixing honey with artichokes. If at the end my tagine tastes good with that hint of North African spice then I’ll be happy and maybe you can be inspired to follow my method of approaching a recipe.

Now you’ve got this far and I have got you round to my kind of thinking, the last thing you want to do is follow my recipe, but I’ll give it to you anyway.

The first thing I did was brown off my chicken, then I threw in some chopped up onions, some ground coriander, cumin and a couple of cinnamon sticks and I let it fry a bit on a medium heat.

Next in was a teaspoon of chili paste, dried fruits and some big chunks of butternut squash.

When it arrived at a point when it looked like it was craving liquid I blended the juice of the tinned tomatoes with a couple of the whole ones, poured it in and topped it up with a little water so most of the fruit and vegetables were covered and the level was about half way up the chicken drumsticks.

A few twists of freshly ground black pepper, a pinch of salt and a good squeeze of runny honey was then added before putting on the lid and leaving it to simmer for about half an hour.

The other vegetables I chopped and browned in a little oil in a separate pan as I didn’t want to overcook them.

I added the other vegetables to the tagine, gave it a little stir, returned the lid and let it cook on a low heat for about another 15 minutes. 

My tagine was cooked and would have been fine on its own but I served a little plain couscous on the side and it was great, exactly what I expected. That subtle hint of sweetness coming through the spices, The texture of the dried fruits against the chicken  and the silkiness of the sauce all married together to give a real Moroccan edge to the dish. 

Would I cook this tagine again? Probably not as next time I’ll be out of dried apricots and artichokes will be out of season, but I am sure I’ll have some pistachio nuts and a load of extra lemons to use up.