Curious Ingredient: Preserved Lemon -1-

While away from my blog, I have been busy writing book reviews. Fickle? may be, but I did have fun, made lots of contacts renewed the sources of inspiration, ferreted for ingredients that would spice my recipes and came across preserved lemons.

I have always wanted to try them on. They were not easy to locate, Phil had mentioned that he spotted some in Tesco's but it was Delia who came to the rescue. As I was reviewing her latest book, I spotted a jar of them, now that I new what the packaging looked like it would be much easy. Armed with a mental image and a brand. Belazu. I started the hunt again.

Belazu, "the Mediterranean food and ingredients retailer" started as a company 8 years ago, they seem to be some of the good guys reinvesting in well worth to fight for causes. You will find their products in supermarkets such as Sainsbury, Waitrose, Tesco, you can also buy direct, they encourage to team up with others which is nice since it reduces the transport impact on the environment.

Now that I had my curious ingredient I got cracking on that Moroccan chicken recipe as seen in Delicious and amended according to availability and mood.

Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Chickpeas

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 chicken thighs and 2 drumsticks

2 preserved lemons, quartered
100g cooked chickpeas

1 red onion

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 garlic gloves

6-8 green olives (that I did not use)
275 ml dry white wine

coriander leaves to finish
salt & pepper to taste
Mix of spices as follows

1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp cardamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp chili powder

2 tsp brown sugar

salt

Pepper

Method

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a casserole and when it is very hot stir-fry the onion (chopped) for 5 minutes

Mix the spices all together

Half the spices blend and mix that half with the rest of the oil, make cuts in the chicken flesh and rub the mixture in, all over.

Stir the garlic and the rest of the spices into the onions, add the lemon quarters, olives and chickpeas and place the chicken on top.

Pour in the wine, season with salt and pepper, cover, bring the heat down to simmer and cook for an hour.

Serve with couscous.