chicken with pickled lemon

Ingredients :
For 2 chickens each weighing 3 pounds
•    1 heaped teaspoonful of ginger
•    1 cofeespoonful of saffron (mixed prepared packet sajjion and crashed sajjron flowers)
•    3/4 ladle of groandnut oil
•    50 g (2 oz) of butter
•    1 soupspoonful of olive oil
•    1 small whole onion
•    the zest of 1 pickled lemon cut in quarters
•    10 preserved olives
•    salt

Put the chickens, whole or cut into pieces, in a thick-bottomed saucepan with the offal. Add salt, oil, butter, ginger, the whole onion, crushed garlic, saffron and two glassfuls of water. »

Put on the heat, cover and when it comes to the boil, turn the pieces of chicken over, stir to mix the spices and leave to cook on a moderate heat. Make sure the sauce does not boil away and add a little water if necessary. Turn the pieces over frequently so that they are completely impregnated with the sauce. Take the onion out as soon as it is cooked and put on one side.

When the chicken is cooked, i.e. the flesh comes away from the bones easily in the fingers, add the olives and lemon zest, cut into pieces.
Allow to simmer a few more minutes. Check the seasoning.
Take a little piece of the chicken liver and the onion and either sieve or blend in an electric mixer.
Add the sauce and bring to the boil. Serve as soon as the sauce is the right consistency.
Arrange the pieces of chicken and offal with the pickled lemon zest and the olives on a round dish. Stir the sauce hard with a circular movement and pour this thick, rich sauce over the dish. Serve very hot.

N.B. The onion is optional. It is not included in the traditional recipe.

M'hammar chicken

Ingredients :
For 2 chickens weighing about 3 lbs each  
•    1 garlic clove
•    1 onion
•    1 teaspoonful of paprika
•    1/2 teaspoonful of ginger
•    1/2 teaspoonful of pepper
•    1/2 teaspoonful of cumin
•    1 coffeespoonful of saffron (Mixed packet saffron and crushed Saffron flowers)
•    150 g (5 oz) of butter
•    2 soupspoonfuls of groundnut oil
•    l small bunch of parsley and corianader tied together
•    l teaspoonful of flour
•    salt

Peel the onion and the garlic. Pound up very fine in a mortar with enough salt to season the chicken. Mix this with the spices listed above. Drain the chickens and wipe them with a clean cloth, and spread this mixture inside and out.
But butter and oil in the thick-bottomed saucepan on a low heat and lightly fry the chicken, turning them over so that they are well impregnated with the spices. After a few minutes add 2 big glassfuls of water and add the little bunch of parsley and coriander which should be removed when the chickens are cooked.
Cook with the lid on over a moderate heat, turning the chickens frequently. Add a little water if necessary.

When the chickens are cooked, i.e. the flesh c0mes away from the bones easily between the fingers, let the sauce boil down, if necessary and remove them from the heat.
Add the flour blended with a little water and bring the sauce tothe boil. Stir quickly, let it boil down further and take off the heat.
20 minutes before serving, heat 100 g (4 oz) of butter and a ladleful of oil in a pan and carefully fry the chickens so that they are nicely browned all over.
Arrange on a hot dish. Re-heat the chicken sauce without letting it boil away. Add two soupspoonfuls of the frying fat, stirring with a circular movement, and pour the sauce over the chickens. Serve immediately.

Meat tajine (with eggs and almonds)

Ingredients for 6 to 8 people

• 1 1/2 kg (3 lbs 5 oz) of meat (mutton shoulder and chops or veal knuckle)
• 200 g (7 oz) of almonds
• 6 hard-boiled eggs
• 1 teaspoonful of pepper
• 1 coffeespoonful of saffron (mixed packet saffron and crushed flowers)
• 2 grated onions
• 1 small bunch of coriander tied together
• 1 heaped soupspoonful of chopped coriander
• 150 g (5 oz) of butter

The tajine is the traditional dish prepared for weddings, circumcisions and other important festivities.

Cut the meat into pieces weighing about 150 g (5 oz) rinse, and put in a thick-bottomed saucepan with salt, pepper, butter, saffron, grated onions, skinned almonds and a small bunch of coriander which should be removed when the meat is done.

Cook with the lid on, stirring from time to time. Add water if necessary.

Towards the end of cooking, add the chopped coriander and boil down the sauce until it becomes thick. Remove from the heat when the meat is cooked and breaks off easily in the fingers.

Re-heat just before serving and arrange in a round dish with the almonds and the hard-boiled eggs cut in half lengthways on top. Pour the sauce over.

NB. The almonds can be fried in oil just before serving and added to the dish at the last minute, instead of being cooked with the meat.



Meat and rice tajine with almonds

Ingredients for 6 to 8 people

•    1 1/2  kg (3 lbs 5 oz) of meat (mutton shoulder and chops or veal knuckle)
•    1 teaspoonful of pepper
•    1/2 coffeespoonful of saffron (nzixed packet saffron and crushed flowers)
•    2 grated onions
•    150 g (5 02) of butter
•    150 g (5 oz) of almonds
•    3/4 glasshii of polished rice
•    1 handful of chopped parsley
•    1/2  teaglassful of lemon juice (or more to taste)

Cut the meat into pieces weighing about 150 g (5 oz). rinse and put in a thick-bottomed saucepan with salt, pepper, saffron, butter, grated onions and peeled almonds. Cover with water and cook with the lid on. stirring from time to time. Add water if necessary.

Meanwhile cook the rice separately in slightly salted, boiling water.
Cook for 20 minutes, rinse in cold water and strain.
When the meat is cooked and breaks off easily in the fingers, add the chopped parsley and lemon juice. Boil the sauce down until it becomes thick. Just before serving re-heat the meat separately, using half the sauce to re-heat the rice. This should be done as quickly as possible so that the rice does not become sticky.
Arrange the meat on a round dish with the rice and almonds on top. Pour over the remainder of the sauce and serve at once.

Meat tajine with almonds and onions

Ingredients for 6 to 8 people
 

•    1.5 Kg (3 lbs 5 02) ofineat (muttorr shoulder and chops or veal knuckle)
•    200 g (7 0z) of almonds
•    1.5 Kg (3 lbs 5 oz) of onions
•    1 handful of chopped parsley
•    150 g (5 oz) of butter
•    1 teaspoonful of pepper
•    1 coffeespoonfful of saffron (mixed packet saffron and crushed flowers)

Cut up the meat into pieces weighing about l50 g (5 oz). rinse, and put in a thick-bottomed saucepan with salt, pepper, Saffron, butter, 2 sliced onions and the skinned almonds. Cover with water and cook with the lid on, stirring from time to time. Add water if necessary.
When the meat is cooked and breaks off easily in the fingers, take it out of the sauce and put on one side. Toss the remainder of the onions in the sauce with the chopped parsley, a little salt and a pinch of saffron. Shake the saucepan well to mix all the ingredients and leave to cook with the lid off.
When the onions are cooked but still firm, check the seasoning and remove the sau- cepan from the heat. The sauce should be thin but not runny.
To re-heat the meat put it back in the saucepan.
Arrange it on a round dish with the onions and almonds on top. Cover with the sauce and serve at once.

Couscous

Ingredients for 10 people :

•    Cooking time: 2 to 2 y2 hours depending on the quality of the meat
•    500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of coarse semolina rolled in 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of sifted flour
•    or; 1 packet of couscous weighing 1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz)
•    1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) of shoulder of mutton in pieces or:
•    1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) of knuckle of real
•    1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) of courgettes (baby marrows)
•    500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of turnips
•    1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) of fresh kidney beans
•    1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) of onions
•    1 handful of chopped coriander
•    1 soupspoonful of pepper
•    1/2 level teaspoonful of saffron
•    150 g (5 oz) of butter, in the stock
•    100 g (4 oz) of butter for the couscous
•    6 litres (11pts)of water
•    Salt

Put the pieces of meat in the lower part of the couscous steamer. Add 6 litres (ll pts) of water, 2 onions cut up into quarters, pepper, butter, saffron and salt. Bring to the boil and place the "keskes" (upper part of the steamer) full of rolled couscous on the boiling pot. Seal the two parts together as before with a cloth steeped in flour and water paste so that the steam can only escape from the top.

After the couscous has stopped to steam, let it cook for half an hour, then take off the couscous and pour into the "gsaa". Press lightly with the ladle to separate the grains, leave to get cold and sprinkle with cold water. Let the couscous air and then repeat the same operation until the grains are swollen and saturated with water. Leave to absorb all the water.

In the meantime, and about l hour before serving, put the remainder of the ingredients in the pot which is still boiling over the fire-first the turnips cut in quarters and the kidney beans from which the shoots have been removed, then, after a quarter of an hour’s boiling, the baby marrows cut in 4 and seeded but not peeled, the sliced onions and chopped coriander.

When it has boiled for a while check the seasoning and put the couscous back into the keskes. Put the keskes on top of the pot and again seal the 2 two parts of the steamer. When the couscous starts steaming, take off the heat and pour into the "gsaa", add the butter, mix well and add as much stock as the semolina can absorb while stirring. Put the couscous on a large round dish, form a cone,with a well in the middle for the meat and vegetables and serve immediately.