Chicken and Butternut Squash Tagine

A tagine is a delicious Moroccan-style stew that is slow-cooked in a ceramic pot of the same name, but you can also cook the dish in a regular baking pan as I did for this recipe.  I used a tagine pot for presentation.  Leave out the chicken for vegetarian version.  I hadn’t made a tagine for years until a client recently requested a dish.  It turned out so good I had to share!  It paired wonderfully with Frey Organic Pinot Grigio.

Tagine pots are easy to find online.

Chicken and Butternut Tagine
Serves 6

Chicken: 6 wings & 3 thighs.
1 large butternut squash (peeled, de-seeded, chopped into 1 inch pieces)

Prepare marinade:
2 onions, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons chopped ginger
Half bunch cilantro, chopped coarsely
5 Tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons softened ghee
2-3 teaspoons salt
2 pinches saffron threads (about 1 teaspoon, don’t crush)
2 Meyer fresh lemons or regular lemons, de-seeded, coarsely chopped.

5 tablespoons ghee
1 can pitted green olives
3/4 cup blanched almonds (place in simmering water for one minute and remove skins)
4 tablespoons thinly sliced preserved lemon (preserved lemons can be found online if your local supermarket has none)

Blend all marinade ingredients in Cuisinart or blender. Thoroughly massage marinade into the chicken in a baking pan and over the butternut squash pieces.  Let marinate for a few hours or even better, overnight.  For vegetarians, use butternut squash and leave out chicken.

Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour.  After baking 20 minutes, and every 15 to 20 minutes thereafter, stir the dish in the oven.  Chicken should be nicely browned after an hour.

Pull from oven and immediately toss with 5-6 tablespoons ghee.  Add and toss the green olives, blanched almonds, thinly sliced preserved lemon, then garnish with cilantro.