Chicken and Caramelized Pears Tagine
Chicken and Caramelized Pears Tagine
This tagine has the perfect pairing of savory and sweet flavors, which is very typical for many Moroccan dishes. The chicken is cooked in an onion sauce. This method of preparation is called mqalli. Then pears are poached, then caramelized in butter, honey, and cinnamon. At the last second of caramelizing, orange blossom water is stirred in. The chicken is plated on a platter. The onion sauce is poured over, then followed by the caramelized pears.
Equipment
- tagine
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp butter or smen(cured and aged butter)
Caramelized Pears
- 3 pears peeled and quartered
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 cup chicken sauce
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp orange blossom water
- 1/2 stick butter
Garnish
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Soak the saffron in a couple tbsps of warm water for 5 minutes.
- Mix in the ginger, turmeric, black and white peppers to form a paste.
- Marinate the chicken for 8 hours.
- Place the onions, parsley and cilantro bunch, 1/4 cup water, and the cinnamon stick in the bottom of a tagine over medium heat.
- Place the marinated chicken pieces on top. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Add the oils and butter, plus another 1/2 cup of water. Season with salt.
- Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Place the pears in a small pot with the lemon juice and 1 cup of the chicken juices that developed in the tagine. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- While the pears are simmering, remove the chicken from the tagine. Continue to simmer the onion sauce for 20 minutes over medium low heat.
- In a separate sauté pan, melt the butter, honey, and ground cinnamon over medium heat.
- Add the pears to the butter. Simmer for 8 minutes, occasionally stirring the pears in the sauce.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the orange blossom water.
You must be logged in to post a comment.