Chicken Tajine with Spring Vegetables

Tajine is a special dish named for the pot used to cook it. When you hear of a dish that is a Tajine, you should automatically think of cuisine from the Northern African countries of Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia. My fiancee is originally from Morocco, so I have been learning how to cook tajines. Although, I do not have any genuine Tajine pots, I have been able to make similar Tajine recipes with my American pots and pans. Plus my fiancee says they are just as good as when his mom used to cook for him! :)
Tajines usually consist of meat and or vegetables with a thick, seasoned sauce. Most tajines are served with bread to sop up the sauce. No part of the tajines are discarded.

Ingredients:
Makes 8 servings
1 lemon, halved
6 medium artichokes, stems trimmed to 1/2"
1/2 cup olive oil
1 lb. onions, chopped
8 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 Tbsp grated lemon peel
1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
8 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
8 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
8 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
4 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs
4 cups chicken broth
3 fresh fennel bulbs, trimmed
5 large carrots, peeled, cut 1 inch length

Fill bowl with water, squeeze in lemon juice. Break off enough outer leaves of the artichokes to expose pale green leaves. Trim dark green areas off stem and base. Quarter artichoke lengthwise. Separate out choke, drop into lemon water. Heat 1/4 cup oil in skillet. Add onions and saute 5 minutes. Add next 7 ingredients and 6 Tbsp each of parsley, dill and mint. Saute for additional 3 minutes.
Move ingredients from skillet to large pot. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in skillet. Add 1/3 of chicken and saute 3 minutes per side. Transfer to pot with onion mixture. Repeat with remaining chicken. Add broth to skillet and bring to a boil. Transfer to pot and add fennel and carrots. Drain artichokes and add to pot.
Bring tajine to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer 15 minutes. Transfer chicken and vegetables to large bowl. Boil sauce 10 minutes. Return chicken and vegetables to sauce. Rewarm tajine. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp each parsley, dill, and mint.
Serve with bread!

Moroccan Salad

This is another recipe that I learned from my boyfriend. In the US when you think salad the first thing that comes to mind is lettuce. Well that is not the case in Morocco. My boyfriend explained to me that Moroccan salad is less about the lettuce and more about the other vegetables you add to it. This is an easy recipe that can have a lot of vegetables or as little as 4 vegetables. It is very healthy for you because there is no salad dressing which usually adds the most calories, but instead uses olive oil which is very good for you. There are many variations to this salad because you can add pretty much any vegetable you want. Enjoy making this salad and using the different additional ingredients!

Ingredients (Used for salad in the picture above):
2 Tbsp of olive oil
1 cucumber
1 large carrot
1 large tomatoe
1 pepper (sweet or regular)
1 cup lettuce
salt & pepper to taste

Peel cucumber and carrot and chop into small pieces. Dice tomatoe. Clean and de-seed the pepper. Chop into small pieces. Chop lettuce to desire size pieces. Using a large salad bowl, add olive oil and all the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix completely making sure all the vegetables are covered with olive oil. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Additional ingredients include:
olives- green or black
potatotes
onion
cheese
hard boiled eggs