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).
© Dorene Krausnick and KrausnicKitchen 2011-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material (text and images) without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dorene Krausnick and KrausnicKitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
