Kickoff Chicken Recipe
I thought I’d start my Kosherblog career with a chicken recipe that I enjoy. It’s from Step-By-Step Moroccan Cooking (not a kosher cookbook, but Moroccan recipes are easily adaptable). The recipe calls for preserved lemon, which can be purchased at specialty stores, or you can substitute the zest of one fresh lemon, as we do. Also, if you’re lazy like us, you can skip the first step and just add the raw chicken to the sauteed vegetables, along with the remaining ingredients. That way, you will only need one (13-inch) pan. (We typically skip the “browning” step in our chicken recipes. People say it adds something, but I can’t tell the difference.)
Without further ado:
Chicken and Olives
12 chicken pieces
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (you can substitute flathead parsley if you’re not a cilantro person)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
4 strips preserved lemon rind, grated
2 tbs. lemon juice
1 cup green olives
Combine chicken with spices in large bowl. Let stand, covered, for 1 hour. Heat 2 tbs. oil in a large pan. Cook chicken until well browned, but not cooked through. Transfer chicken to larger pan.
Add remaining oil to pan. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring. Transfer to large pan with chicken pieces.
Add cilantro and stock, lemon rind, juice, and olives.
Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes, until chicken is tender and liquid has reduced.
Sounds tasty. Next time you prepare this dish, take a digital photo, and we’ll add it to the recipe.
Knowing my taste, I’d probably omit the cinnamon (never been a big fan of meat and cinnamon), follow your parsley suggestion, and use only chicken thighs. I’m on a chicken thigh kick at the moment. They have great flavor, don’t cost too much, stand up very well to braising, and don’t mind being cooked a long time. In fact, I recently whipped up quite a bit of dijon herb chicken for a Shabbos dinner, and I’ll probably post something about it soon.
As for browning the chicken first: the culinary establishment insists that it’s critical. The brown bits that stick to the pan add a lot of flavor if they’re deglazed and incorporated into the sauce, and browning assures that the chicken skin won’t get overly soggy/rubbery when cooked in liquid.
Also, Levana’s Table has a recipe for preserving lemons, should one wish to do so.
Anyhow, welcome aboard, elf!
Sounds tasty. Next time you prepare this dish, take a digital photo, and we’ll add it to the recipe.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a digital camera.
The brown bits that stick to the pan add a lot of flavor if they’re deglazed and incorporated into the sauce, and browning assures that the chicken skin won’t get overly soggy/rubbery when cooked in liquid.
Now I think I understand why I can’t tell the difference. When we make chicken in sauce, we leave off the skin. (The cooking establishment would probably be opposed to that too, but it seems to me that if you’re avoiding skin for health reasons, the flavors might as well be in direct contact with the chicken.)
elf - We also tend to remove the skin from the chicken, but I still brown it in recipes like this. Without the skin, it’s not as noticable if you skip that step, but if you can afford the extra few minutes of work it does add another interesting dimension of flavor.
I recently catered a Moroccan style Bar Mitzva kiddush at Chabad here in Ft Worth,Tx. A few of my recipes called for preserved lemon and since I couldn’t find a pre-made kosher product, I made my own.
Use 2 very large lemons and put 4 cuts into the sides, top and bottom. Stuff the cuts with kosher salt and place in an air tight jar covered with lemon juice and topped off with oil to help make it air tight. Let sit for 4 to 6 weeks. Rinse under cold water and use the peel to flavor the recipes.
Shanna: Good to know. At some point when I am making the chicken (as opposed to DH), I’ll give it a shot.
Aaron: Intersting. The recipe I have calls for replacing the liquid every 12 hours, which seems like a bit of a nuisence. Your method is much more straightforward.
My recipe for preserved lemons says quarter and de-seed the lemons, cover them in kosher salt and leave for twenty four hours. Then put in a jar with olive oil, and you can also add paprika, pepper, a garlic clove, bay leaves and a cinnamon stick. Edible after 3 weeks.
Haven’t made it yet, but will definitely have to now.
I have an Algerian cooking blog, all the recipes have photos. Almost all of them can be adapted to be Kosher. I can’t think of too many that couldn’t be kosher.
I like Chicken recipe.
I’m so glad!