Chicken and Apricot Tagine with Preserved Lemons

It's best to buy your preserved lemons Belazu is best and they are available in any any good supermarket such as Waitrose, Sainsbury's or Tesco.  
You can make your own preserved lemons like I did a while back - see here.  
However, the lemons we get over here are large and so they have to be cut into wedges to fit in the jar.



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extra virgin olive oil
about 25g of butter
2 large onions - chopped
2 fat cloves garlic - chopped
1 tablespoon of Belazu rose harissa (available in any good supermarket)
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
2 Belazu preserved lemons - rinsed and then chopped (skin only)
3 or 4 skinless chicken breast fillets - cut into cubes
1 x 400g tin of cherry tomatoes - be sure to get good quality ones
1 or 2 courgettes (zucchini) - sliced
10 or 12 dried soft apricots
a small handful of toasted flaked almonds
a pinch of saffron strands
300ml chicken stock made from a Knorr stock cube
a good squeeze of runny honey
salt and black pepper to taste


Use your Tagine if you have one that can go the stove top, if not use a large frying pan for this part.
Heat a glug of olive oil and a knob of butter and over a low heat gently cook the onion and garlic until
they are nice and soft but not coloured.
Stir in the coriander, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, harissa and chopped lemon (skin only and rinsed in cold water first). 
Add the chicken and tomatoes including the juice, sliced courgette, apricots, saffron, honey and the stock.
Add only half of the almonds as you will want some later for serving. 
Season with a little salt and some black pepper.
Bring to the boil and then put everything into the Tagine if it isn't already in one, or you can use a casserole dish with a lid.
Pop it into the oven and leave for about 1 hour after which you will need to give it a good stir and have a taste.

Add a little more honey or harissa if you think it needs it.
Put it back into the oven for another 45 to an hour until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened nicely.
Sprinkle over the rest of the almonds just before serving and serve with couscous or flat bread.