Moroccan food is bold. It is warm. It is full of spice and slow flavor. One dish shows this best. The tagine. Both a dish and a clay pot, the tagine cooks food low and slow. Meat, fish, or vegetables simmer with herbs, fruit, and fragrant spices. The result is rich, tender, and deeply aromatic. In 150 Best Tagine Recipes, bestselling author Pat Crocker opens the door to this world with authentic yet easy recipes made for home kitchens. In this post, we bring that flavor to life with three dishes from the book. A fresh Moroccan salad. A fragrant chicken tagine. And a vibrant fish recipe. Simple ingredients. Big flavor. A small taste of Moroccan-style cooking, right from your kitchen.
Green Bean, Pistachio and Pomegranate Salad
Fast, easy and great tasting, this salad can step in as an appetizer or accompaniment to either a meat or vegetable tagine dish. Serve it with whole grains or couscous for a light lunch
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MAKES 4 SERVINGS
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces
- 1⁄2 cup diced red onion
- 1 cup whole pistachio nuts
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds (see Tip, left)
- 1⁄4 cup chopped green olives, optional
Pomegranate Dressing
- 1⁄3 cup avocado or olive oil
- 3 tbsp Pomegranate Molasses, homemade or store-bought
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a pot of boiling salted water, cook green beans for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Let cool to room temperature. In a bowl, combine green beans, red onion, pistachio nuts, pomegranate seeds, and olives, if using.
- Pomegranate Dressing: Meanwhile, in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine oil, molasses and parsley. Shake well to combine and drizzle over salad.
Tip: Pomegranate seeds are available at Middle Eastern markets and specialty shops.
Chicken with Dried Fruit and Pepper
The dried fruit sweetens the tagine and if you serve preserved or fresh lemon wedges with it, the dish is balanced with tart, spicy and sweet flavors.
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MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
Ingredients
Medium or large tagine
- 3 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 3 onions, cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp Ras el Hanout
- 6 skinless bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 lbs/1 kg)
- 3 red bell peppers, cut into eighths
- 15 dried apricots, cut in half
- 15 pitted prunes, cut in half
- 1⁄4 cup chopped dried figs
- 3 tbsp chopped dates
- 1⁄2 cup chicken broth or water
- 4 to 6 Preserved Lemons
- 4 to 6 lemon wedges
Instructions
- In the bottom of a flameproof tagine, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and ras el hanout and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add chicken, meaty side down, sliding thighs around and moving onions away from bottom so that flesh is in direct contact with bottom of tagine. Cook for about 5 minutes or until chicken is browned on meaty side.
- Using tongs, turn chicken over. Add bell peppers, apricots, prunes, figs and dates. Pour broth over and bring to a boil. Cover with tagine lid, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring once, for 25 to 30 minutes or until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a fork.
Fish and Chickpeas with Pomegranate and Roasted Red Pepper
The tart-sweet pomegranate molasses combines well with the nutty, rich taste of the roasted peppers for a delightful sauce.
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MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
Ingredients
Medium or large tagine
- 3 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 2 onions, cut in half and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tbsp La Kama Spice Blend steak seasoning
- 1 can (14 to 19 oz/398 to 540 mL) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1⁄4 cup chicken broth
- 2 tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
- 2 Roasted Red Peppers, cut 2 into strips
- 11⁄2 lbs skinless firm whitefish fillets
- 1⁄4 cup pomegranate seeds, optional
As seen in
Instructions
In the bottom of a flameproof tagine, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring, for 7 to 12 minutes or until soft. Add spice blend and chickpeas and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute to coat chickpeas. Add broth and molasses and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir in roasted peppers and lay fish fillets over top. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, if using
Tips: Roasting red peppers is not difficult (see page 51) and I try to make extra and freeze them, but when I run out of my own stash, I have found some very good commercial canned red peppers for my pantry.
Use a medium to firm-textured fish such as haddock, catfish, Pacific halibut, snapper, black sea bass or trout in this dish.
Photography Credit: Colin Erricson
