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.