Tagine

Tagine was the last on my list of special clay pots to buy and I finally got one at La Cuisine in Alexandria. It was made in Tunisia and is a pretty pistachio green.

I was not in a hurry because I wasn't sure how well I would like these stews that mix sweet and savory. But after trying it the first time, I think I'm going to like them fine.

After all the lamb over Passover and Easter, I didn't want to try the traditional lamb tagines, but took a recipe for chicken tagine with harissa, artichokes and green grapes from Ghillie Bașan's Tagines & Couscous, a new cookbook I bought on the basis of its high rating on Amazon.

The result was really delicious -- warming, exotic, tangy and very pretty with the ocher-yellow color it got from the turmeric. And very simple for a weekday.

I had cured the tagine right after I bought it, soaking it 24 hours then smearing the inside with olive oil and baking it at low temperature for 3 hours. Although this is a working utensil, it is also very decorative sitting on top of the hutch.

Whole Foods was very cooperative in providing the special ingredients needed for this recipe -- a nice jar of harissa paste and both artichoke hearts and preserved lemons in the olive bar.

I cut 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into wide strips and tossed them in a marinade of 1 Tbl olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp turmeric and 2 crushed garlic cloves. I covered it and put it in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.

For the tagine, I sautéed 2 onions cut in half lengthwise and then sliced with the grain and half a preserved lemon, thinly sliced, with 1-2 tsp of sugar, in 2 Tbl of olive oil until the vegetables were lightly caramelized. Then I added the chicken strips along with 1-2 tsp of harissa and 2 tsp of tomato paste. Then I poured in 1-1/4 c. chicken broth, brought to a boil (slowly in the clay bottom sitting on a heat diffuser), put on the conical top and reduced the heat to let it simmer 15 min. Then I added 13 oz. of artichoke hearts cut in half and let it simmer another 5 min. At the end, I stirred in 16 seedless green grapes cut in half and part of the coarsely chopped leaves from a bunch of cilantro. I sprinkled the rest of the chopped cilantro over the top for serving. Bașan suggested an accompaniment of warmed flat bread, which Whole Foods also thoughtfully provided. We accompanied with a dry Côte de Provence rosé that we had picked up on our rosé shopping spree last weekend at Weygandt's and Addie Bassin's.

Both the new clay pot and the new cookbook passed their inaugural test with flying colors! We'll be doing more tagines.