Chicken Tagine with Dates and Almonds

 

Why, hello :) It’s been a while, I hope you’ve been keeping well over the past year and a half?

I thought I’d dust off the keypad and update my repository of recipes by giving you one that worked well for a pot luck dinner just this week. This chicken, date and almond tagine was originally cooked for me by my friends A&E. I then nicked the recipe off them and have been cooking it for dinner parties, many of my own meals - and a pot luck dinner.

As is my way, I made a few tweaks to the original recipe which called for prunes and green olives - I didn't have either of those so substituted the prunes for dates and left out the olives - the saltiness of these would balance out the sweetness of the prunes.

And contrary to popular belief, you don't need a traditional tagine to make this - just a large pot. The preparation involves putting in the uncooked chicken (no pre-searing required, yeah!) and layering the other ingredients on top - so easy. The cooking time of an hour and a half braises the chicken to super tender and reduces down the liquid to make a rich, tasty sauce. I cooked mine in about an
hour and it still turned out well. I made couscous to go with it and jazzed it up a little by making it with chicken stock, lemon zest and a dash of parsley.

Tagine of Chicken with Dates and Almonds

Adapted from Julie Le Clerc’s book, Made in Morocco, via Milly’s Kitchen

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs, cut into good sized chunks

1 large onion,thickly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, ginger, cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1/4 cup white wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar which I think made it too sweet)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
Sea salt and freshly

ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Place chicken portions in a medium-large pot. Scatter over remaining ingredients in the order listed, except the parsley, and season with salt and pepper.

2. Cover the pot and bring the liquid to the boil, then turn down the heat to simmer for 1½ hours, turning the chicken pieces once or twice, until the chicken tests cooked and the liquid is much reduced. The cooking can alternatively be done in an oven heated to 180°C.

3. Adjust seasoning of sauce if necessary before serving. Serve scattered with parsley.

Serves 4

Wholemeal Pizzas (no yeast)

Pizza ready to go into the oven

Delicious, crisp pizza fresh out of the oven

I've been looking for a wholemeal pizza base without yeast for ages but finally came across this one the day that I made those yummy rocky road cupcakes - double success! It was exactly what I was looking for.

It's perfect because it's healthier with the wholemeal flour but also because I made the dough in 5-10 minutes after work - no waiting for yeast to rise and it still resulted in a nice light, crunchy base without being soggy.

I didn't have any tomato paste on hand so I took half a tin of canned, chopped tomatoes, added a clove of minced garlic, chucked in a bit of dried oregano and seasoned with salt and pepper. I reduced the tomatoes down until it became a good consistency for the base of my pizza - not too runny.

My toppings were zucchini, mushrooms, onion, tomato, ham and tasty cheddar cheese. My first pizza was a bit bland so I took a tip from my local pizza shop and sprinkled my second pizza with the same toppings but added extra zing with a bit more dried oregano, minced garlic and a few chili flakes - it turned out as tasty as store-bought pizza! And pretty good washed down with a glass of beer too.

Wholemeal Pizzas Without Yeast
Adapted from Family Oven

2 cups self-raising wholemeal flour (note the original recipe called for plain wholemeal flour but turned out okay with self-raising flour)
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
50g butter
2/3 cup milk
Tomato paste or puree
Pizza toppings of your choice plus minced garlic, dried oregano and chili flakes if desired

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Grease tray lightly.
2. Put flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and rub in butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add enough milk to form a soft dough. Knead lightly.
4. Place the dough on the baking tray and pat out into desired shape and thickness (I like mine thin), pinch up edges to make a rim. Spread tomato puree on base and add sliced toppings, finishing with the cheese.
5. Bake for 25-30 min until cooked and golden brown. Serve hot or cold in slices. Freeze for up to 3 months.