No tagines?

I check the Eater website regularly. They have an article on tagines up presently. Did a search-no one has brought one up other than me and that reference was not on point. I have a Romertopf which I have not used for years. I should. I’ve got a cast iron tagine coming. Hopefully I will use it. Clay is the real deal but between lead and fragility, I am going with iron.

Spelling it tagine (without the middle ‘n’) might help with searches. :wink:

We have a clay version, but almost never use it.

I have a black Tagine since around 10 years by Emile Henry from France. I can recommend!

I am glad that you are still with us Martin (as much as I can say without belonging in the politics forum (or is it “politic” singular)),

I did a search under “tangine” my friend. Same result. Bupkis.

Mitch did you try “tangerine” ? neener

Now I’m confused, or maybe my attempt at teasing was at the expense of clarity. Sorry! The word is spelled tagine, and there are quite a few results.

Yeah that occurred to me-I am the confused one. Tagine. I am dumb.

Nah. What’s an extra “n” here and there among friends?

I bought a clay tagine years ago and have never used it, and I love Moroccan food! I will remedy that shortly, though. I started some preserved lemons about a month ago, so they will be ready soon. flirtysmile

Mitch,

I was on the wrong track in the Asylum forum.

As an outsider you have the tendency to know everything better, unfortunately. But as we make our money together with an American company since 25 years, Herman Miller, we feel passionate with the USA. And a couple of years ago we even thought to move to the USA for living. You see the USA is not a far far away country for us, that´s the reason why my horses went wild.

Last but not least, I was VERY happy that Herman Miller gave a paid-leave for their workers on Election Day, so that they all can vote. [cheers.gif]


P.S.

Sorry, that I got into politics in the FOOD section.

Don’t misinterpret me Martin. Four years ago I asked you to stay. I don’t think you have any reason to apologize. That is all I can say in this forum.

My cast iron Chinese-made poor-man’s-alternative to Le Creuset Tagine arrived yesterday along with a set of seven Moroccan spice blends. It feels like Chicago today-40 degrees and blustery. I read a bunch of tagine recipes and intend to just synthesize the concepts and make it up as I go. I have dried chickpeas soaking and just need to pick up some suitable lamb to cut up into cubes. I will add canned whole tomatoes from Italy and keep it simple.

Sounds like a great first go. If you have any preserved lemon, toss some of that in as well. Love that bright clean hit among the more earthy flavors.

I have a very good Tagine recipe for Chicken with Turmeric and Turkish dried apricots. I will drag it up from somewhere and post it. I once made it for 120 people for a second night seder at my synagogue, but I did not use a tagine “pot” because I did not have 10-15 of them. It was well received.

Found it. Here is my write-up for our Synagogue newsletter. If I had to do it over again, I would use fresh turmeric instead of dried ground Turmeric (at least one inch of root, probably more) and I would definitely use fresh ginger. Add a bit more cayenne if your audience likes to kick it up a notch. Use sweet, non-smoked paprika.

As Jews seem to have an unexplained affinity for Chinese food, so to do Ashkenazi Jews have an affinity for Sephardic cuisine. Despite the preference of most of them not to eat the traditional Sephardic side dish of rice with their Moroccan Tagine at our Temple’s Second Night Seder, they did manage to finish two entire full sized [Aluminum foil steam table] pans of Chicken Tagine with onions and apricots, to supplement 50 pounds of brisket and another 30 pounds of chicken in peach sauce. We used Quinoa instead of rice. In response to numerous requests for the recipe, here it is:

Ingredients:

17 pounds of boneless chicken breasts (oops, no, let’s cut it back to normal proportions) . . .
2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts
2 tbsps EVOO (that’s extra virgin olive oil to the non-foodie)
1 tsp cardamom pods
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp peppercorns (black is fine)
1 tsp paprika
1 small pinch of cayenne
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger (or 2 tsps finely chopped fresh ginger)
½ tsp turmeric
1-1/4 tsp salt
1 large red onion
4 garlic cloves
¾ cup dried apricots
3 tbsp honey
2 heaping tbsps dried parsley
½ cup blanched almonds (optional – we omitted due to allergy issues)

Directions:

Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes or whatever else you consider to be bite sized.

Using a mandoline or very sharp knife, slice the red onion very thin and then cut slices in half so you do not have round circles

Chop the garlic

Grind the cardamom, cumin seeds and peppercorns to a fine powder, then mix well with the paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, powdered ginger, turmeric and salt. If you use fresh ginger, chop very finely and add it to the chopped garlic, not the spice mixture. [the same with turmeric if you use fresh turmeric]

Mix the chicken with the spice mixture in a bowl and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp EVOO in bottom of porcelain covered heavy iron casserole on high heat (make sure it’s got one of those heavy tight fitting lids for later) until it is almost ready to smoke and quick saute the onions and garlic until the onion is at least translucent, maybe another minute beyond that, stirring constantly with wooden spoon so it does not burn.

Remove onions and garlic and set aside.

Add the rest of the oil to the pot and wait a few second until it gets hot, then sauté the chicken in the spice mixture, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until it loses all of its pink color on all sides and gets a bit brown. Do in batches if necessary. You want to sear the chicken, not steam it by putting too much in the pan at a time. When done, return all chicken to pot.

Take 1 cup water and put it in the bowl where you had the chicken so you pick up any of the spices that stuck to the bowl.

Return the onions and garlic to the pot, add the parsley, stir to mix, add the cup of water that you put in the chicken bowl, cover with heavy tight fitting lid, and put in 300 degree oven for 45-ish minutes. If you want better technique, first take everything out of the pot and deglaze the bottom with the water and the add everything back.

While the chicken is baking, cut the apricots in half, put in a pan. Add a cup of water and the honey, as well as the blanched almonds if you want, and bring to a boil.

Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally and watching carefully so it does not burn, until the apricots absorb the water and the rest of the water evaporates, leaving you with gooey glazed apricots.

After the chicken has been in the pot for 45 minutes, add the glazed apricots and stir to mix. There should be a little sauce in the bottom of the pan. If not, add a half cup or so of water and next time get a close fitting heavy cover like the directions say.

Put back in oven, wait 10 minutes and serve with rice. If it’s Passover and you are offended by rice, serve with Quinoa like we did.

You can prepare everything in a fry pan and then bake in an ordinary oven-proof container covered with aluminum foil, but be sure to de-glaze the pan you used for sautéing everything and toss the liquid from the deglazing into the casserole before it goes into the oven. You would not want to waste the spices.

I have the Le Creuset tagine, but never use it for tagine recipes. The capacity is smaller than I want when cooking tagine recipes – i usually do them in my 8 qt Staub dutch oven. Even if I’m just cooking for two, those recipes always reheat so well, that there’s no reason not to make extra.

Thanks Jay.
Here in Columbus OH we have a Jewish Moroccan family with three beautiful daughters. Two of them married wealthy Jewish men and the third married for love. My wife is friends with all three.
I printed up your recipe.

Jay, thank you so much for that recipe. Marjorie and I were going nuts tonight, couldn’t keep our noses out of our plates. Absolutely delicious!

Mrs. got me an Emilie Henry for Christmas several years ago and I am yet to use it. I will remedy that very soon. I know I need to season it with milk or the like.