Moroccan Tagine of Chicken and Apricots

My brother-in-law hooked me up with a true Tagine for Christmas! He knows I'm a big fan of Moroccan cuisine, and he also knows I usually make my tagine in a dutch oven. I've wanted an original tagine for a long time, but never got around to the buy.

You see that places like Sur La Table and others offer celebrity chef tagines for over $200, but I think that's just a plain waste. In fact, I recognize that many people opt for higher end, expensive tools and implements in their kitchen. Granted, I don't really like it when my cheap spatula melts when I leave it sitting on the rim of a pan for 10 seconds. On the other hand, I guarantee you that my $15 8" frying pan will perform just as well as any $100 pan for the same purpose. Use your brain. Some things you need to spend the extra dough and get a good one (like my knives, vegetable peeler, etc.). But, when my $25 Lodge iron skillet does as good a job as $150 one, I'm not going to waste money.

Now that I've digressed, I'll move on...So since I've posted other recipes for this dish, I'll focus on some choices I made this time around.

First, I tried using chicken thighs instead of breasts (which I usually use). I've never been a fan of dark meat, but after exploring chicken thighs in my holiday meal, I found them potentially suitable for this dish. Henry's Market has a nice organic offering and I scored 4 large thighs (about 1.5 pounds total).

The end result was perfect in juiciness, but I felt that the "dark" attributes took over from what a breast would normally soak up. In other words, the breast soaks and returns the flavor to you. The dark meat softens and has hints of the tagine spices, but the meaty flavors are overwhelming and you lose part of the experience. On top of that - and this was partly my fault - the fat and stringy parts of the thighs made it a less enjoyable taste. I should have trimmed the thighs first of any fat and sinew, but didn't.

Next, I usually like to do about 1.5 hours for my tagine. I think you're fine if you shoot for the hour mark, but I honestly prefer the flavor meld of a slightly longer simmer. This time I was strapped for time, so I served after only 40 minutes of cooking time. With dark meat, you'll need to ensure it's cooked thoroughly. Since I used fresh chopped tomatoes, they were not softened as much as I'd like. I'd say 1 hours is the minimum on a tagine like this.

Finally, I usually cube meat for my tagines. In this instance, I left the thighs whole as purchased. On the one hand, I felt the presentation was more visually appealing than cubes of chicken - it was like a natural appearance. But, part of the tagine experience is in treating it like a stew, and you don't usually need a knife to address stew.

Couscous are a staple for this dish, so make sure you get that. Also, I didn't add garbanzo beans, which I always do. It was a nice change not to have them included, even though I really love them.

Give it a shot and let me know.

Brock