Chicken & Apricot Tagine

From my wife Lisa

Chicken & Apricot Tagine

I have to admit that I’m a sucker for food magazines.  One of my new favorites is Clean Eating, which concentrates on providing recipes that are free from heavily processed foods.  As I was flipping through the magazine in the store, I came across a picture of “Chicken & Fresh Apricot Tagine,” and I was sold.  After visiting Morocco, finding good Tagine recipes have become a bit of an obsession, and this one looked amazing.  (We bought a beautiful Tagine that unfortunately broke in the mail, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised since it was mailed from Morocco.)   I have to admit that this did not disappoint, although I will probably tweak it a bit the next time I make it. 

So, here’s the recipe:

• 1 tbsp safflower oil  (I used olive oil.)
• 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil cooking spray
• 1/2 large white onion, chopped  (I used a red onion.)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp red chile flakes, or to taste
• 1 tbsp white whole-wheat flour
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth 
• 4 dried Medjool dates, chopped  (I used Craisins.)
• 5 apricots, pitted and quartered  (I only had two, so I added some jarred apricots.)
• 8 large green olives, pitted and quartered
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat couscous  (I was out of couscous, but I had a ton of quinoa, and it turned out great.)
• 1 tbsp pine nuts, toaster
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint  (I did not use this.)

Instructions:

Heat oil in a heavy pot on medium-high.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Add to pot and cook, without moving, until browned on bottom, 1 to 2 minutes.  Flip over and repeat on opposite side.  Transfer to a large bowl (chicken will not be cooked at this point).  If bits of chicken are stuck to pot, add 1/4 cup water and scrape pot with a spatula as water boils; add to chicken

Coat pot with cooking spray and decrease heat to medium.  Add onion and carrots.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook until soft and lightly browned, 6 to 7 minutes.  Add ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, chile flakes, and flour.  Cook for 1 minute, stirring often.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more.  Add broth and dates and bring to a steady simmer.

Add chicken and any juices back to pot.  Reduce heat to maintain a slow, gentle simmer (low to medium-low; you should see just a few bubbles slowly surfacing at a time).  Cook for 10 minutes, uncovered and stirring occasionally.  Add apricots and simmer gently until soft, but not falling apart, about 10 minutes.  Check chicken to ensure doneness.  Stir in olives and lemon juice.  Taste and adjust seasoning, if desired.

Meanwhile, prepare couscous according to package directions.

To serve, add about 1/2 cup couscous to each of 4 bowls.  Divide stew evenly among bowls and top each with equal amounts of pine nuts and mint. 

The flavor of the tagine was really nice.  Next time, I will reduce the amount of chicken stock, because there was a bit too much sauce for our taste.  Also, you might want to try your apricots to make sure they are ripe.  The ones I used were quite tart!  Overall, it was a great tasting meal, that I will add to my repertoire of recipes.

This recipe is from the June 2011 issue of Clean Eating.