27 April 2012

Chicken and camel milk tagine

 I have a new tagine. It's a fancy one - Staub. It cost way too much, but it's the first tagine I've had that does the full job - it works on the stovetop, and in the oven. Until now, I've used a 45 year old enamel pot that came to me through my mother in law, and I will still use that lovely pot, but the added bonus with a tagine like this is that it looks damn good on a table.

I'm still inspired by my trip to Jordan, and after cooking mansaf the other day, I thought of my tagine, and chicken. Chicken is so tender and juicy when poached in milk. Jamie Oliver has a great recipe that I had made when my family still included regular dairy in the diet. But now I use camel milk due to its better casein profile. It also has a richer flavour, a light tang and an incredible creaminess despite its low fat content. Camel milk is readily available here in Dubai - for those who can't find it, substitute with buttermilk rather than regular milk, otherwise it will be a little bland, as I use fillets in this recipe rather than a whole chicken.

Ingredients:
  • 4 chicken breast fillets, sliced into large chunks (3-4 per fillet depending on size)
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • a good slug of nice olive oil for browning
  • chicken stock cube (crumbled)
  • rind of one lemon (large pieced peeled rather than shredded or grated)
  • a few sprigs of fresh thyme
  • a cinnamon quill
  • 350ml camel milk (or buttermilk - tips for turning regular milk into buttermilk here and  here)
  • salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:
  1. Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F), then set your pot or tagine on the stovetop at a high heat.
  2. Brown chicken with olive oil and garlic, then add the rest of the ingredients to the pot, bring to a gentle boil, then pop in the oven for one hour (covered)

Serve with short-grained rice, maybe with a saffron flavour, and buttered baby peas, or with big chunks of crusty bread and a green salad with herbs. 

This is a seriously easy dish, and the kids adored it (with rice and peas).



6 comments:

  1. Those are stunning pictures Ms Hedonista! I am a pretty big fan of Jamie too.. and great substitute using the camel milk there.

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  2. Gosh this photo is stunning. Am not a huge fan of camel milk or any milk for that matter, but you've inspired me to try this recipe in my (relatively new) tagine.

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  3. Ms Hedonista - you are inspiring me to get a new tagine myself - the pictures are so beautiful. The one that I have is quite old - not as ancient as yours but I am really so fond of it. I am not too fond of camel milk - maybe a psychological predisposition to it. But the fact that your kids loved it a lot says a lot for the recipe.

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