A Present For Cathy

Poulet m'charmel
Lemon Chicken with Cilantro and Olives

2 large onions, eeled and finely choped
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
Leaves from a bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Juice of 2 lemons
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups water
1 large chicken, cut into eighths

to garnish:
1 preserved lemon, finely sliced
5-6 oz soft green or purple olives

In a large bowl, mix together the onion, garlic, half the cilantro and parsl,ey, the spices, slat, half the lemon juice and the olive oil. Dilute with water to make a sauce.

Rub some of the sauce over the chicken, then place chicken in a large cooking pan (or tagine). Pour the rest of the mixture around the meat, cover, and simmer over medium heat (low heat with a tagine) for 45-60 minutes, turning occasionally and adding more water if necessary.

Add the remaining cilantro and parsley and pour over the remaining lemon juice. Let simmer hard, uncovered, a few more minutes to thicken the sauce.

Arrange the chicken on a dish and garnish with slices of preserved lemon and the olives.

Tajine d'agneau aux figues et abricots
Lamb Tagine with figs and Apricots

2 lb 4 oz bones sholder of lamb, cut into large chunks*
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 cinnamon stick, roghly broken
2-3 tsp ground black pepper
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp saffron
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tbls olive oil
2 tbls vegetable oil

fruit mixture:

9 oz dried figs
5 1/2 oz dried pitted apricots
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbls sugar (super fine preferred)
3 tsp orange-blossom water
3/4-1 cup water

*Many of these recipes are based on translating metric measurements. Thus, the lamb actually is 1 kilo. Adjust as you wish.

Put all the meat dish ingredients into a wide, deep pan over medium heat, stir briefly, then almost cover with water. Cover with a lid, then simmer gently for 1-1 1/2 hours. Check the moisture level occasionally, adding more water if necessary.

Meanwhile, make the fruit mixture. Steam the figs and apricots for about 15 minutes, until soft and moist. Put them in a saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes. If the mixture gets too dry add some cooking juice from the meat to moisten.

When the meat is cooked through, remove the lid and without removing the meat simmer for about 10 minutes to reduce the sauce. Transfer the meat to a serving dish, spoon over the reduced sauce, then arrange the fruit mixture around it.

When making tagines, keep in mind what the old mountain man said about making coffee: It don't take nears the water most people think. Tagines are a braising process, in which the liquid, after doing it's job, is allower to thicke through evaporation.

My goodness KYH these sound fabulous!!! I have all the ingredients on hand to make both dishes (except the orange flower water). I don't know which one sounds best, I will be making both soon so I can decide. I'll let you know how I like them, I am sure I'll love them both! Thanks so much for posting them I am going to print them out and put them into my notebook of Spice Place recipes that I have made to keep forever.

I spent today reading and preparing recipes and shopping for ingredients. I just today bought dried figs, dates, golden raisin, and tons of different spices, lemons to preserve, and right about now I am stuffed and have eaten so many new tasting dishes it is fabulous, and I'm ready to pop!

That darned saffron is exspenive as all get out, but is such a delightful spice. I love the Mahattma Yellow Rice mix best because they use real saffron in their mix to impart such a great flavor. Where do you get yours from?

Today I made my very own Harissa, and had turned my back for just a min. when I turned around my finace was just popping a piece of Falafel into his mouth that he had placed about 1/2 tsp of harissa on I said "Hey that stuff is very strong and I don't think it's meant to be eaten like that" I thought his mouth would catch on fire, but he said it was delicious I know he likes hot stuff, but had no ides he could tolerate that kind of heat, to me Tabasco is hot even though I love it.

Well this was a perfect ending to a perfect day finding 2 more recipes tagine to try!

Thanks so much, Cathy

"Today I made my very own Harissa......"

Wow! Even for a chilihead he must have an asbestos-lined mouth. I barely put that much in a whole recipe.

I hear you! These Puerto Ricans are full of surprises!!!........what else can I say? LOL

I used @ 1/2 to 3/4 tsp in a recipe I cooked, loved it and it imparted such a great flavor, I noticed the heat did not hit me right away, but only after I swallowed and it left a pleasant lingering flavor!

Not to get off subject, but have you ever heard of Puerto Rican pastelles? We were able to get some in FL, my fiance puts hot sauce & ketchup on his, I like them plain. They taste different than anything I have ever tasted, but they are good. I doubt I will ever make them as they are very time & labor intensive. The masa is made from Yuca and or Plantain Banans, they are wrapped in banana leaves much like a Mexican would wrap a tamale in a corn husk. Anyway I thought I would mention it as it is one of the most unique tasting foods I have ever eaten. It is my understanding that Puerto Rican food is very nicely spiced, but they use far less pepper than Mexican cooks.

Hey! If we ever stayed on the subject somebody would think something was wrong.

I don't know much about Puerto Rican food at all.

The short time I was there---more years ago than I like to think about--- we mostly ate street food, and one really great meal at a church supper.

As I recall, it was a bit spicier than, say, Cuban, but not nearly as hot as Jamaican.

Street Food U-M-M-M!!! My son did 4 yrs in the Coast Guard stationed in lovely Key West FL (talk about a working vacation!) but they went to Rosie Rose, PR on some maneuvers and he simply loved it. I am hopeful that for our honeymoon we are going to go there. I can hardly wait! Some of the PR dishes aren't my favorite, but then I do think if I cooked them they'd turn out much more to my liking. I do not care for my shrimp overcooked, and if I were to make the some of the Bakalou (spelling?) which is a codfish dish I would make it a little more moist tasting and let my fish cook until alot more tender. But you are right they do not use hot peppers like some of the other styles of cusine do, but they do season beautifully.

And church suppers OH My goodness I love them!!! But to go to one in PR with all their homecooked foods well that had to be special! My son had a friend on his Cutter that was PR and they went to his home in PR while they were in port there, and he still raves on the food this fellows Mom cooked them!

Boy now that I think about it I wish some adult in my life had of suggested me joining the Coast Guard when I was a kid, I would have stayed in until retirement!!! And I would have requested Maine and Key West coasts to be stationed on, I love Bar Harbor!!! Lobster.......!!
And at both locations too!!!

We use to say you had to be at least 6' 1" tall to join the Coast Guard. That way, if your ship went down you could just wade home.

Seriously, the Coast Guard is (or, at least was, until Homeland took it over) a prime example of what a police force should be, and I have nothing but the highest respect for them.

Do you know their unofficial motto? "When a ship is in trouble you have to go out. Nobody said anything about coming back." To live and work by that philosophy takes balls of the first order!

My visit to PR was a two day liberty. We were having our Operations Readiness Inspection, at Gitmo, and that was one of two weekend cruises we made---the other was to Montego Bay; which remains my favoritest spot on the whole earth, even though I experienced the greatest danger of my life while there.

Interesting. I am certain from the stories I have heard (just from my son) the Coast Guard is exactly as you described! I am very proud of all our branches of the US Armed forces, but you've just got to have a special place in your heart for the Coasties!

My fiance tells me some stories about the Dangers in the jungles (Rain Forest) of PR how there are many who go in and just do not come out. Sad

KYH,

It's the Poulet M'charmel @ our house tonight for dinner! I will post how delicious it is and when you all get back from vacation you can read my rantings and ravings on how much we enjoyed it! I just naturally love chicken with lemon, olive oil, and parsley anyway! But my gracious add olives and cilantro, ginger and garlic! My taste buds will just get up and faint dead away, I mean they'll just be overwhelmed that is!!!

Cathy

Collectively there must be something on the order of six thousand, four hundred and eighty three versions of Lemon Chicken in North Africa. Every housewife and professional cook has his/her own version.

I hope you enjoy this one.

When my fiance' finished this he said "2 thumbs up, and I'd give it 3 if I had 3 thumbs"! Excellent tasting dish, I recommend it to all of our forum friends, you've just got totaste this guys and gals! I did not have the preserved lemons yet, so I substituted a little lemon zest worked fine.

According to the cookbook I have on Moroccan food, the author states "As the recipes are handed down from generation to generation, with very little recorded on paper, no two dishes will ever be the same-it all depends on the eye and the mood of the cook". I figure that must be why there are640,830 different versions of this

I highly recommend this recipe!!!!

Thanks, Cathy

I'm so glad you liked it, Cathy.

Well, I'm leaving in the morning for a fishing vacation on the Outer Banks. The past few weeks they've been doing well, with bluefish, sea trout, triggerfish, cobia, and the occasional flounder among the catches.

With that in mind, thought I'd leave Cathy (and anyone else into Morrocan) a recipe for a fish tagine:

Tajine de Poisson au Safran, Echolotes et Raisins
(Saffron Fish Tagine with Shallots and Raisins)

1 cinnamon stick, roughly broken
1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced into rounds
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp saffron, plus a few extra pinches
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 lb 4 oz robust white fish filet (such as pollock) skinned, boned, and cut into large chunks. I used cod for this.
1 lb 2 oz whole shallots, peeled
4 1/2 oz golden raisins, soaked in water for 20 minutes
1 cup water

Spinkle the cinnamon over the bottom of a tagine dish or a large, wide pan, then lay the onion rounds on top.

In a bowl, mix together the olive oil, ginger, pepper, 1 tsp saffron and paprika. Andd the chunks of fish and marinate for a miniumum of 10 minutes.*

Meanwhile, steam the shallots for about 15 minutes, to partially cook them.

Lay the fish pieces on top of the onion rings, leaving some of the marinade behind, and place the shallots of top to cover. If you like a spicy dish, increas the amount of marinade sauce by adding more oil and spices. Stir the extra pinces of saffron into the marinade and spoon over the fish-shallot mixture. Sprinkle with the soaked raisins and pour the water around the edge of the dish or pan.

Cover the dish or pan and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon and keep warm, then cook the sauce for another 10 minutes, lid removed, to reduce. Serve in a wide dish to show off the ingredients.

*I found you need to at least double the marinade ingredients or there isn't enough to go around with that much fish.

KYH,

Best wishes on the fishing adventures! And boy am I jealous (all that lovely fish, oh my!!!), but I will get over it (just have to drown my sorrows wine tasting tomorrow)

Thanks for this recipe and when we get home from our camping trip/wine tasting this weekend I will most definetley be giving this a try. We love COD so I will make it with that!

Thank you so much for sharing, Cathy

Tomorrow is Day #1 for the new tagine!

Hi I meant to let you know KYH that I got my beautiful tagine, it will be on it's Maiden Voyage into the depths of my oven tomorrow to make this "Saffron Fish Tagine with Shallots and Raisins" recipe you have so generously shared with me. I am so excited and I just know this dish is going to be a hit!

I love weekends!!! I have another batch of green beans ready for picking tomorrow, oh and 1 lonely okra pod, I promised my "Pooh-Bug" we would cut it up and fry it, so I will slice some zuccini to fry and then I will do her okra pod hey what better way to introduce an 8 yr old to okra and only such a small amount available will leave her hungry for more.... then we will graduate to boiled okra somehow maybe in tomatoes & corn wee-doggies!!! Any way thanks for all the help you gave in picking out the tagine!

Cathy

By the way KYH I am not going to be doing this Saffron Fish Tagine recipe stove top, rather I wish to do mine in the oven, I am going to guesstimate the approx. temp. and time to leave in oven. If you think you could steer me in the right direction on that I am open to suggestions.

Thanks, Cathy

I assume you washed and cured the tagine properly? That's really an important step, as it toughens the clay.

I've not used them in the oven. But at a guess I'd say 225 or no more than 250.

What I'd do is start at 225 and monitor what's happening. The goal is a very slow simmer at most. Making a tagine is a true braising operation, in which the liquid is evaporated, condenses on the lid, and rains back down on the food, thus keeping it moist and flavorful. Check the fish after ten minutes, to see how it's coming along, and go on from there.

10-4 KYH, and thanks for the reminder to properly cure it, matter-of-fact I had forgotten that very important step!

We thoroughly enjoyed this fish tagine! Eddie said we must have fish cooked in the tagine very often! The blend of spices are nice and the onions/raisins just complement one another and the fish beautifully (I could not find shallots so had to sub. w/ vadalia onion instead) we had it served over Jasmine rice. I could taste flavor the tagine imparts it is a very pleasant taste, I used a olive / grapeseed oil mixture to cure the tagine, this is an exciting new gadget to cook with I think we will be using it alot


Thanks so much, Cathy