As you read in my last post, I picked up a Tagine from Le Creuset and I was really itchin' to try it out! So, I scoured the internet earlier today and figured out what kinda recipes I wanted to try, wrote down all the ingredients and made my way over to the store. Here's the recipe I found:
3 medium carrots, peeled and cored (if core is bitter) and sliced in half lengthwise
6 chicken thighs, in 1 inch pieces
1 large peeled potato, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
1 large green bell pepper, cut in chunks
1 medium red onion, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsps ground ginger
?? tsp ground pepper
2 tsps paprika
Dash of yellow food colorant powder, or a few strands crushed saffron
6 chicken thighs, in 1 inch pieces
1 large peeled potato, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
1 large green bell pepper, cut in chunks
1 medium red onion, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1 cm thick rounds
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsps ground ginger
?? tsp ground pepper
2 tsps paprika
Dash of yellow food colorant powder, or a few strands crushed saffron
cube or 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
Handful of pitted green olives
6 -8 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup of water
Splash 4 tbsp of oil on the bottom of the Tagine. Layer your ingredients evenly in the Tagine, starting with carrots, then going in order they are written. The carrots must be on the bottom, and the chicken pieces should be on top of the carrots, not touching the bottom of the Tagine (When the carrots start to burn, they add a delicious flavor and protect the rest of the ingredients, but if anything else burns, that's not going to taste very good.) When you get to the spices and salt, sprinkle them evenly over the vegetables. Spread your olives on top, then drizzle the olive oil allover. If water is needed, add it now. Close your Tagine and cook until your vegetables are tender, on a very low heat. This may take up to an hour andmake sure you have liquid in the Tagine or it will burn. On the other hand, watch out for too much liquid or it will bubble over.Once it's cooked, turn off the heat and drizzle the rest of your olive oil on top. Let the tagine rest for about 10 minutes to cool off, and enjoy!
1-2 tsp salt (to taste)
Handful of pitted green olives
6 -8 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup of water
Splash 4 tbsp of oil on the bottom of the Tagine. Layer your ingredients evenly in the Tagine, starting with carrots, then going in order they are written. The carrots must be on the bottom, and the chicken pieces should be on top of the carrots, not touching the bottom of the Tagine (When the carrots start to burn, they add a delicious flavor and protect the rest of the ingredients, but if anything else burns, that's not going to taste very good.) When you get to the spices and salt, sprinkle them evenly over the vegetables. Spread your olives on top, then drizzle the olive oil allover. If water is needed, add it now. Close your Tagine and cook until your vegetables are tender, on a very low heat. This may take up to an hour andmake sure you have liquid in the Tagine or it will burn. On the other hand, watch out for too much liquid or it will bubble over.Once it's cooked, turn off the heat and drizzle the rest of your olive oil on top. Let the tagine rest for about 10 minutes to cool off, and enjoy!
Of all the spices, I've never worked with Saffron, which is a VERY potent and widely used in European, Arab, South and Central Asian, Persian, and Turkish cuisines. A little goes a LONG way! So, I was pretty nervous to use it since it's really unfamiliar to me...not to mention, EXPENSIVE! No joke, I paid $10 for a few GRAMS of it. I definitely didn't want to screw this meal up! Some things I altered were the olives..the commissary didn't have any plain green olives that were pitted, so I picked up some that had jalapenos in them (a lil spice isn't a bad thing), and instead of using powdered ginger, I used fresh minced stuff that's from Gilroy, CA (twenty five minutes from my home town). Oh, and I didn't have chicken readily available without having to defrost it like crazy, so I used a schwank roast that was already available to be used :)
So, I set to the task of chopping everything up like usual...once all the veggies and meat were ready to put in the Tagine, I layered 'em up as the recipe stated. To be honest, I was a little worried about how it looked like I was stacking and sticking stuff on top of one another...so it felt like parts of the food weren't going to get cooked properly. Just what I need..give my family some kind of food poisoning when I was trying to convince them to "broaden their horizons" when it came to tasting new things, lol. Once I finished stacking and adding the seasoning, I put the lid on and walk away.
Here's the before:
Anddddd after:
I was honestly SHOCKED as to how much the liquid level raised and everything was so tender within an hour of cooking! The stove top was set on low! This thing is basically a super crock-pot! So, I was pleasantly surprised and Eric was even impressed with how everything turned out. It tasted FANTASTIC! The seasonings and veggies melted together perfectly and the sauce didn't taste like some watered down broth. When we were ready to dig in, we had some white rice available and piled some of this on top..Uh-mazing! I'm in love with this thing and look forward to using it a lot more :) Definitely a worth while investment since my husband AND son were raving about the recipe and how everything came out!
1 comments:
That is so cool!!!
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