Moroccan Chicken With Green Olives and Preserved Lemons
Serves 8
This is adapted from “All About Braising.” We got a jar of preserved lemons for Christmas last year and I am always on the lookout for dishes that use them. You can omit them if you can’t find them, but they are fairly easy to make. Rice or couscous makes a great accompaniment. I use whole-wheat couscous that cooks in 5 minutes.
You can make this with 8 chicken thighs or thighs and legs. You can omit the liver if you like, but it adds a little something to the sauce.
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika (or Spanish smoked pimenton)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
½ cup green olives (Pincholine, Cerignola, etc.), unpitted
1 3 ½-pound chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Coarse salt and black pepper
1 medium yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
¾ cup water
1 lemon
¼ cup chopped parsley or parsley and cilantro mix
1 whole preserved lemon
Mix the spices together. Cover the olives in cold water and let soak. Cut the chicken into 8 pieces. Cut off the back and wing tips and reserve. Heat the oil and butter in a large 4-quart pot and brown the chicken a few pieces at a time. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. The olives and preserved lemons add salt to the dish so you won’t need much additional salt, if any. Let the chicken pieces brown on one side before you turn them. Place the browned chicken on a plate covered with a paper towel.
Slice the onion and garlic into thin slices. When all the chicken is browned, pour off most of the fat and add the onion. When it begins to soften, add the garlic and cook until you can smell it. Add the spice mix and stir for a few minutes more. Pour in the water and deglaze the pot. Add the legs and thighs, the reserved backs and wing tips, and the gizzard, neck and liver. Cover and braise gently for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces and add the breasts and wings. Add the juice of half the lemon and half the chopped herbs. Cook for another 20 minutes.
Pit the olives: Press an olive firmly with the side of a chef’s knife until it pops. Pull out the pit. Most of the olives will stay together, but if some don’t, it’s OK. Rinse the preserved lemon quarters and scrape off the pulp. (You only use the peel of a preserved lemon.) Chop the peel into ½-inch pieces. Add the olives and lemon pieces to the chicken at the end of the 20 minutes. Remove the liver, put it in a small bowl and mash it with a fork.
Continue braising for another 15 minutes or so, or until the juices run clear when you pierce the chicken with a knife. Transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish. Remove the backs, wings, giblets and neck and discard. Cover the chicken to keep it warm.
Add the juice of the other half of the lemon and the mashed liver to the sauce. Raise the heat and reduce the liquid slightly for about 5 minutes if it needs it. Add the rest of the herbs, spoon over the chicken, and serve.