Chicken Tagine with Prunes and Almonds in The Style of The Rif Mountains

This was a moist and quite straight forward way to cook chicken. I tackled the chicken a little different than Queezle Sister; I cut off the wings and legs as directed and left the rest of the chicken in one piece. I used a large casserole dish, so I had enough room for the rest of the whole bird. It actually made it convenient to put the rest of the ingredients into the dish as there was plenty of room under the bird to pack the rest of the ingredients. I agree with Zosia that half of the prunes were plenty. I used them all, but only half were eaten. This was a nice dish, but will probably not be added to my repertoire.

I purchased a tagine (thankfully, seeing as my oven is on strike), and this is the first tagine I prepared.

This recipe produced a rich sauce with a strong cinnamon flavor, but well balanced with the sweetness of the onions and the crunch of the almonds.

As with other recipes in this book, the almonds are blanched, sautéed in olive oil to be toasted, and provide a wonderful texture and flavor. And the chicken was moist and very delicious.

The instructions were generally good - my only real question was about dealing with the chicken. You are instructed to start with a whole chicken, remove legs and wings, and put the breast in whole. But what about the back? I used it for stock, but a bit more explicit instructions would have helped me.

I had some issues with cooking time - because I was nervous about the tagine and so kept the heat pretty low. It took an extra hour to cook, but next time I will be less timid about turning up the heat (to medium).

This was a recipe of many firsts for me: the first time cooking a tagine and the first time cooking in a tagine. I've had Moroccan food but my family hasn't so I chose this dish as a gentle introduction to the cuisine. The spices and ingredients were familiar, it was the combination and the cooking method that were new.

First, onions were steamed with ginger and turmeric; browned chicken pieces, that had been dry rubbed with cumin, were added to the mix. At this point, the dish was covered with parchment (no need to actually use a tagine, just a stove top-safe casserole) to cook slowly over low heat. Prunes, simmered in water with cinnamon, were added at the end and heated through. The final touch was a generous amount of sauteed almonds.

It wasn't a very saucy dish like a braise or stew, but what was there, was intensely flavoured and delicious. The chicken was moist and flavourful and nicely complemented by the other components.

I must admit that though I prepped all of the prunes, I added only half to ensure my family would eat the dish.....and they did....with relish!