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Chicken and lemon tagine with cracked green olives

Chicken and lemon tagine with cracked green olives

“The tagine at Pata Negra is among the best I’ve had outside Morocco. Would you ask chef Kurt Sampson for the recipe?”
Julia North, Applecross, WA

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Chicken and lemon tagine with cracked green olives

Serves 6
Cooking Time Prep time 15 mins, cook 45 mins (plus standing)
1   chicken (about 1.6 kg), jointed
1   onion, coarsely grated
2   garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp each   ground ginger and finely ground black pepper
½ tsp each   ground cumin and sweet paprika
¼ tsp   saffron threads, ground with a mortar and pestle
900 gm   green olives, pitted
120 ml   lemon juice, plus extra to taste
400 gm   (2 cups) couscous
2 tbsp   extra-virgin olive oil
500 ml   (2 cups) chicken stock
1 cup (firmly packed) each   flat-leaf parsley and coriander, coarsely chopped, plus extra to serve
To serve:   toasted slivered almonds and thinly sliced preserved lemon rind


1 Combine chicken, onion, garlic, spices and 1 litre water in a large casserole, bring to the boil over medium heat, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer, turning chicken occasionally, until almost cooked through (15-20 minutes). Add olives and lemon juice and cook until chicken is tender (10-15 minutes).
2 Meanwhile, preheat griller to high. Place couscous in a heatproof bowl, drizzle with olive oil and massage through the grains. Bring chicken stock to the boil, pour over couscous, stir, cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, stand for 10 minutes. Remove plastic wrap, season generously to taste and fluff grains with a fork.
3 Remove chicken from casserole, place on oven tray lined with foil, grill, skin side up, until brown (3-5 minutes), set aside, keep warm.
4 Meanwhile, reduce cooking liquid over medium-high heat until thick (7-10 minutes), season to taste with extra lemon juice, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Return chicken to casserole, stir through herbs and serve with couscous, scattered with extra herbs, slivered almonds and preserved lemon rind.

This recipe is from the November 2009 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller.

RECIPE Kurt Sampson, Pata Negra PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Chen STYLING Geraldine Munoz


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