My Moroccan Chicken Tajine

Well, it's finally happened. I've found myself back in a kitchen. But I'm not complaining.....
Thought I'd list out my favorite Moroccan meal in recipe form for any you you out there willing to try it.

Note: I tend to be an anarchist in the kitchen – and don’t measure anything. Quantities listed here are general assumptions and may need to be tailored to suit your tastes.

This is a traditional Moroccan dish, but cooked without the traditional Moroccan ceramic cookware and without being done over a slow blazing charcoal roast. Instead, I find it easy to recreate using a crock pot. This recipe fills a medium-sized crock pot.

Feeds 2, maybe with some leftovers
Prep time: 10 – 15 minutes
Cooking time: 4-5 hours (on high), 7-8 (on low)

Ingredients:

Meat:
Chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces (customary to use lamb but I don’t like it so much).

Veggies:
Some tomatoes, diced (Romas are preferred)
1 large (or two small) whole white or purple onion, chopped
~ 2 cloves of minced garlic
1 bunch cilantro (chopped)
1 or 2 sliced zucchini or squash (for texture and color variety)
1 cup of olives with juice (I like the kind pictured below: various olives in a merlot)
Handful of chopped mushrooms
~2T. of lime or lemon juice

Spices:
1t. Cumin (though Curry can be substituted)
1t. Tumeric
1t. Corriander
1t. Ground Ginger
1T. Black Pepper
pinch of Saffron
1t. Course / Sea salt

Other stuff:
~ 2 c. chicken stock or broth

Preparation:
Add the broth to the crock pot.
Chop all the stuff up and dump it into the crock pot.
Stir it up a bit, gently folding ladlefuls of the meal over and over, to ensure equal coverage.
Cover and let it go.

Check occasionally to ensure it is not getting too dry; if so, add more broth, some merlot or a chardonnay, or as a last resort, water.

Serve with fresh, flat bread (pita works well) and Moroccan Mint Tea; finishing with Moroccan Orange Dessert.

Moroccan Mint Tea

Ingredients:

Teapot

Tea (doesn’t matter what kind – most ‘recipes’ call for green tea, and other than a few high-end restaurants, I’ve seen regular teabags used in Morocco)
Bunch of mint
Lots of Sugar

Preparation:
Heat tea in a kettle.
To the serving teapot, add the boiling water and teabags. Let steep for about a minute.

Add the equivalent of 1-2 tsp. of sugar per anticipated serving to the teapot; stir, let continue to steep for a minute.

Crush several mint sprigs (to release the oils) and add them to the teapot, allow to continue to steep for a minute longer.

Add a sprig of mint to each serving glass (or crush the mint sprig into a small ball and place in the bottom of the glass).

Pour one glass of tea, with a high arc, into a glass. (This is the aerating tradition). Pour the glass of tea back into the teapot. Pour (again with a high arc) into each serving glass, and serve.

Moroccan Orange Dessert

Feeds: 2.
Prep time: 5 minutes.

Ingredients:
One navel orange, peeled and sliced
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Powdered sugar
Nuts – walnuts, almonds, your preference
Honey

Preparation:

Slice the orange either in wedges or flat slices. (This works better with flat slices, because then the nuts can rest on the flat surface of the orange. In the photo, I’ve sliced my oranges into wedges which nearly eliminated the ability to pick up any walnut pieces on the same fork as an orange slice.)

Prepare the serving dish:
A scribble of honey, sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Lay out the orange slices, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, nuts, and powdered sugar.
Serve and enjoy.