Lemon-olive chicken = "Djaj bi Zaytoun" (in Moroccan dialect)
Ingredients:
2 small chicken, whole or in pieces
2 tsp Ginger
1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
A little bit of safran
3 T olive oil
1 medium onion
A bunch of fresh coriander & parsley
Lemon juice
Skin of one preserved lemon cut in 4 pieces
(Personally I prefer to use a fresh lemon skin)
1 dozen green olives (or more if you prefer)
1 T butter
Salt (to taste)
- Clean the chicken. Soak the chicken in water and vinegar
(1 T of vinegar) for 10 minutes then clean and drain it again.
- In a cooking-pot over medium heat, brown the chicken in the olive oil, then add the onion, salt, butter, ginger, garlic, safran, parsley, coriander, black pepper, lemon juice and 1 1/2 C water .
(Note: Coriander & parsley should not be minced)
- Bring the water to a boil, and then turn the chicken, stir the mixture; reduce the heat from medium to low and simmer.
- Keep an eye on the sauce to make sure that it doesn't reduce completely, adding water if necessary.
- When the chicken is cooked and starting to come off the bone add the olives and the preserved lemon and let cook for 5 minutes.
- Remove the chicken, olives and lemons and place them on a platter; let the sauce reduce and then pour over the chicken before serving.
- Present the chiken watered with sauce and decorated with olives and preserved lemon slides.
It can be served with the very famous Moroccan Tomato and Pepper salad, which is the very first recipe I've learnt from my dear loving mother.
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