Moroccan flavors warm up dinner hour

This stew can be made in a casserole — in the oven

I recently spent three weeks in Morocco, where seemingly every hotel or restaurant served a tagine, a North African stew of spiced meat and vegetables prepared in a shallow earthenware cooking dish with a tall, conical lid. Tagines were the entree of choice, even during a five-day trek from Berber village to Berber village in the Atlas Mountains. Lunch was served on a carpet set under a shady tree, where a tagine waited to fill our hungry stomachs and nourish our tired legs.

Back home, I set out to re-create the chicken tagine with green olives and orange that I had enjoyed so much on my travels. I used chicken thighs since they work so well for braising. If you have the iconic earthenware pot, that’s great. I simply used a Dutch oven for cooking.

With any braised dish, you typically brown the meat, then remove it from the pan and add a little liquid so you can scrape up the browned bits. I used white wine to deglaze the pan here, but stock is fine, too. Then the meat is transferred back to the pan and cooked slowly in more liquid to tenderize the meat.

Served over rice, the first bite will transport you to Morocco.

Chicken Tagine With Green Olives, Cilantro and Orange

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1 onion, finely chopped 2-inch cinnamon stick, broken in half Pinch saffron threads ½ teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground 1 clove garlic, minced 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced 3 cups chicken stock 2/3 cup orange juice 8 chicken large thighs ½ cup flour, seasoned generously with salt and pepper ¼ cup white wine 1¼ teaspoons kosher salt ¼ teaspoon pepper ¼ cup Picholine or Lucques olives, pitted and coarsely chopped 2 teaspoons lemon juice ¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Garnish: Cilantro leaves, orange or lemon slices

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onion, cinnamon stick, saffron and cumin. Cook over moderate heat until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook for 1 minute more. Then add the

stock and orange juice, increase the heat to high and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced by half and becomes syrupy, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Dip the chicken pieces into the seasoned flour mixture and pat off the excess flour.

Heat a large saute pan over moderate heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. When the oil begins to ripple, add the thighs in batches, if necessary. (Do not crowd the pan, or the meat will not be able to brown.) Brown the chicken pieces for about 4 minutes per side. Transfer browned chicken to a Dutch oven or a casserole with a cover.

Pour white wine into the still-hot chicken pan and use spatula or wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking until the wine becomes syrupy and has reduced to 2 or 3 tablespoons. Add the onion-stock mixture and salt and pepper to the pan. Mix well. Pour the onion mixture over the chicken in the Dutch oven. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the meat registers 150 to 155 degrees.

Remove from oven. Add the olives, lemon juice and chopped cilantro. Transfer to a platter and garnish with cilantro leaves and lemon or orange slices. Serve immediately on a bed of rice.

Bibby Gignilliat is the founder of Parties That Cook, a San Francisco-based culinary event company.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BIBBY GIGNILLIAT Fall is prime braising weather, an ideal time to try a Moroccan-inspired chicken tagine with green olives, cilantro and orange.