Moroccan Rice Pilaf

After making preserved lemons a couple winters ago I love to find tasty ways to utilize them in different meals.  The base recipe for this Moroccan Rice Pilaf comes from Put 'Em Up by Sherri Brooks Vinton, the same book where I originally got the recipe to make preserved lemons.  To spice it up a bit I used a few of the spices from the combination in the Chicken and Olive Tagine that we had a few months back.

I like this recipe because it is a great pantry recipe for times when the cupboards become rather bare in between trips to the grocery store. I sometimes serve large portions as a vegetarian meal with yogurt and flatbread on the side.  Small portions work nicely as a side dish alongside grilled meat or fish.

•2 Tablespoons olive oil

•1/2 onion, diced

•3 cloves garlic, minced

•1/2 preserved lemon, rinsed, flesh removed and finely diced

•4 cups chicken broth

•1 bay leaf

•1 Tablespoon curry powder

•1 teaspoon paprika

•1 teaspoon cumin

•1 teaspoon allspice

•2 cups uncooked white rice

•2 cups cooked chickpeas

•2 Tablespoons dried parsley, or a handful of fresh, minced

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Saute the onion, and garlic for a few minutes until the onion begins to sweat.  Add the preserved lemon and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil.  Add the Bay leaf, curry, paprika, cumin, allspice, and chickpeas. If using dried parsley add it now. Add at the end if using fresh. Simmer, covered, over medium or medium low heat until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.  Fluff and add fresh parsley

Preserved Lemons

Preserved lemons are just about the easiest and tastiest thing to preserve.  Used often in Moroccan cooking, I have noticed that they are becoming more popular in other dishes lately like pasta, rice pilaf, and even soda.  I made a quart sized jar of preserved lemons last winter and experimented with them throughout the year.  They kept well in the fridge and brought some lively flavor to grilled meats, fish, rice dishes, and of course, Moroccan Chicken, Green Olive, and Preserved Lemon Tagine.

I made a quart sized jar for us at home and then I cut the recipe in half to make a pint jar for my Mom to try.  Feel free to experiment around with different whole spices.  I've seen recipes that call for star anise, cardamom pods, and other spices.  I use this recipe because the spices aren't overwhelming, so they can go in a lot of dishes.

Makes 1 quart

•8 lemons, scrubbed clean
•1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
•4 whole cloves
•2 bay leaves
•Lots of Kosher salt

Place the whole spices in the bottom of a very clean quart jar.

Slice the ends off of the lemons.  Cut each lemon in quarters almost all the way through the fruit.  Leave the bottom intact so that it opens up like a flower.  Sprinkle a generous spoonful of Kosher salt into each of the lemons.

Pack the lemons into the jar tightly, pressing out the juice so that it covers the lemons.  Add a bit more salt in the cracks and crevices of the jar.  Top with a bit of extra salt.

Cover the jars with non-reactive lids and set aside for three weeks.  Give the jars a shake every other day or so.  The first few days you may have to push the lemons back down into the juice with a wooden spoon or a spatula.  After a while they'll just stay down on their own.

You'll know your preserved lemons are ready when the juice has turned into a thick sort of syrup and the  lemons take on a somewhat savory smell.  Store in the refrigerator.  Most recipes say that they will keep for about six months, but mine kept for a year without any problems.

Moroccan Chicken, Green Olive, and Preserved Lemon Tagine

A tagine is a slow cooked North African sort of stew that is named after the earthenware pot in which it is cooked.  Often times tagines combine sweet and savory foods together with vegetables and then they are served with rice or cous cous.  Some popular combinations are lamb or chicken with a variation of prunes, dried apricots, preserved lemons, honey, raisins, and almonds.  Vegetable tagines also contain a variety of vegetables along with something sweet.

I  made this dish on a busy day last weekend between running errands, meeting with a friends, and going to a party that night.  I love it because it tastes exotic and complicated, but it couldn't be easier to make.

I mixed the chicken ingredients together in the morning and let it marinate in the fridge all day.  Then when I got home I dumped the entire tupperware full of chicken and spices into a dutch oven with the remaining ingredients and let it cook slowly on the stove while I finished up some things around the house.  You could make this in a real tagine if you have one, or maybe even a crockpot, though the texture would be different.

This recipe is adapted from the tagine recipes found here and here.

•1 whole bone in, skin on chicken, cut into serving pieces

•2 Tablespoons paprika

•1 teaspoon tumeric

•1 teaspoon cumin

•1 teaspoon cinnamon

•1 teaspoon black pepper

•3 cloves garlic, chopped

•1 inch fresh ginger, chopped

•1 whole preserved lemon, pulp removed and chopped, peel sliced and set aside (you can buy preserved lemons at specialty shops, but they usually run $6-10 a jar, so it is much, much better to make your own)

•olive oil, to drizzle

•1 can plain, unstuffed green olives

•1 large or 2 medium onions, diced finely

Combine the chicken, paprika, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, pepper, garlic, ginger, and preserved lemon pulp together in a large bowl until thoroughly coated.  There is no salt added because the preserved lemon is rather salty.  Drizzle the chicken with a little bit of olive oil so that the spices mix in nicely.  Transfer to a container and let marinate in the fridge all day, or even overnight.

Place the entire contents of the container with chicken in a dutch oven over medium low heat.  Add the olives, onions, and the preserved lemon peels.  Cook covered for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, gently stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through.  It should be very tender.  Serve with cous cous.http://kitchenprocrastination.blogspot.com/2011/12/preserved-lemons-are-just-about-easiest.html