Chicken + chickpea tagine

It’s not summer. It’s not summer. It’s not summer. I can’t hear you; it’s not summer. Thermometer, I can’t see you! It is not summer.

It isn’t summer for another several weeks, I know, but by way of a preemptive confession: Unless there is sand and ocean, I hate hot weather. I grew up in Florida, where, yes, there is hot weather, but there is also sand and ocean. And where there isn’t sand and ocean, there is air conditioner. In spades.

My non-Floridian air conditioner has not been working so well these days. I’m not sure I can bring the ocean to me, but I have been channeling the desert this week. Tagine is both a dish and a vessel originating in northern Africa. The dish’s centerpiece can be fish or poultry or meat or eggs or vegetables or or or. What defines the dish seems to be that it is cooked in the appropriate vessel, that tagine. Or not, if you do not have a tagine. And of course, I do not have a tagine.

But I make a mean one. My dear friend Charles, who does not particularly like to be called Monsieur Casablanca but knows the region far more intimately than I ever will, has signed off on it as appropriately tagine-y, and I am rather proud of the flavors. The following recipe is my own to the extent that any recipe can be one’s own, but more than a recipe it is a set of movable parts. Lamb would be quite traditional for the meat (braised for three hours instead of one), and vegetables may be used as the heat gets worse. I’ve used big round zucchini split in half to great effect. It will be better on the second day. The leftover liquid may be used to poach eggs. The chickpeas are also optional, but they do make the dish a one pot meal. If you’d like to omit them, serve the whole thing over couscous. If it’s going to be summer in my apartment, it may as well be the Moroccan desert.

If only my hair agreed with me.

Chicken + chickpea tagine

For the spices + herbs:  pinch saffron  |  ½ t turmeric  |  ½ t hot paprika (Hungarian paprika, for example, or pimentón de la Vera)  |  ½ t cumin  |  1 t ground ginger  |  1 cinnamon stick  |  1 bay leaf  |  several stems cilantro (i.e., coriander), optional

For the chicken + chickpeas:  4 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on  |  salt + pepper  |  olive oil  |  1 onion, or several spring onions, sliced  |  4 cloves garlic, sliced  |  1 can tomatoes  |  |  ¼ of a preserved lemon—all of it—minced, optional  |  some water  |  2 cups cooked chickpeas  |  ½ cup dried apricots, raisins, dates, or other dry fruit, chopped roughly

To serve: cilantro or parsley, olives, almonds

Put all the spices + herbs together in a small bowl. Stir around a bit if you feel like it.

Season chicken liberally on all sides with salt + pepper, and allow it to come to room temperature (at least 30 minutes on your countertop). If you would like to finish your tagine in the oven, heat that to 325, and make sure your pan is oven-safe.

Optional — It will be both faster and more traditional if you skip this part, but the flavor is nice: Brown the chicken. Heat a big pan—something like a Dutch oven—over medium high heat for a few minutes. Add a bit of olive oil and then the chicken thighs skin side down. Do not touch them for at least 7 minutes. Oil and schmaltz will sputter, so use a splatter screen if you have one. Turn them when they’ve stopped sticking, and let them brown on the second side. About 7 minutes per side was right for me. Then place the thighs on a plate. Pour out most of the chicken fat + oil, leaving the brown bits at the bottom of the pan.

Turn the heat down to medium, and add a small bit of fresh oil. Toss in the onions with a small pinch of salt. Sauté and scrape up the brown bits (a wooden spoon is good for this) for a few minutes, then add the garlic. Sauté for a few minutes more, until everything is wilted and a little translucent. Dump in all the spices, and stir so they coat the onions. After they become fragrant—about 30 seconds—add the tomatoes and preserved lemon, if using. (If you are not using the preserved lemon, season with a bit more salt. If you are, do not salt again until the end.)

Put the chicken—raw or browned—into the liquid, and add additional water until the chicken is only barely peeking out. Cover and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down as low as possible or place in the oven. It will be at a bare simmer. Let it do this thing for 40 mins—1 hour. Add the chickpeas and dried fruit for the final 10 minutes of cooking.

Fish out the cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and cilantro stems. Taste and add more salt or pepper as necessary. Garnish with cilantro leaves (or parsley), and pass toasted almonds and cracked olives at the table.

Serves 4