Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Not to digress, but have I been living under a rock? It didn’t even occur to me that Williams Sonoma would have RECIPES online. WHAT!?! So much to cook, so little time!
On to the Moroccan dinner…
I was looking for another slow cooker recipe, so that I don’t have to cook wearing the baby sling again. Kidding, kidding. But really, the slow cooker is such a blessing on a busy day. I found Williams Sonoma’s Chicken Tagine, a Moroccan-like dish which combined chicken, tomatoes, chickpeas, garlic and lemons into a bright and flavorful dish. This one is going to become a new favorite – the kids asked for seconds. I served it with basmati, but it would go well with quinoa or couscous.
Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Ingredients
1/4 c flour
1 t salt, plus more, to taste
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper, plus more, to taste
6 chicken thighs, about 3 lb. total (I used 1.5 lb of boneless/skinless thighs – next time I would use 2.5 lb boneless/skinless thighs)
1/4 c olive oil
2 t ground cumin
1-1/2 t cayenne pepper (I didn’t want it to be too spicy so I used a sprinkle of red pepper flakes instead. Maybe 1/2 t of cayenne?)
2 c chicken broth
1/2 c coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
3 lemons, quartered
1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Directions
Brown the chicken
On a large plate, stir together the flour, the 1 tsp. salt and the 1/2 tsp. black pepper. Coat the chicken thighs evenly with the flour mixture, shaking off the excess; reserve the remaining flour mixture. In a large fry pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook until golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Turn the thighs over and brown for 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer the chicken thighs to a slow cooker.
Deglaze the pan
Pour off all but about 1 Tbs. fat from the fry pan and return the pan to medium-high heat. Add the cumin, cayenne and the reserved flour mixture and stir briefly with a wooden spoon just until fragrant. Pour in the broth. Increase the heat to high, bring to a boil and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Pour the contents of the pan over the chicken.
Cook the stew
Add the 1/2 cup parsley, the garlic and tomatoes (drained) to the slow cooker. Tuck 4 of the lemon quarters around the chicken thighs. Cover and cook on high for 1 1/2 hours or on low for 4 hours according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Stir in the chickpeas and cook for 1 hour more. Remove and discard the lemon quarters. Season with salt and black pepper. Garnish with parsley and the remaining lemon quarters and serve immediately. Serves 6.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Series, Slow Cooker, by Norman Kolpas (Oxmoor House, 2007).
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