Chicken, Fennel and Olive Tagine

Another night and another recipe from Annabel Langbein's 'Free Range In The City'.
This was another very successful dish. While it seems like a lot of ingredients, there are not too many steps.

I don't have a tagine so just used a large heavy pot. The chicken was close together and well covered by the sauce, which I suspect was not the idea.

This meal is enough for 2 nights for us so I froze half for use on another night.



Chicken, Fennel and Olive Tagine
10-12 skinless chicken thighs, bone in
1/2 cup flour
salt and ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
about 5 tbsp olive oil
2 onions finely diced
4 cloves of garlic finely diced
2 bulbs of fennel finely sliced
400g can cherry tomatoes
3 cups of chicken stock
1 strip each lemon and orange peel
1/4 cup currants, mixed with 2 tbsp sherry
1 cinnamon quill
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
16 saffron threads
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1-2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp honey
1/2 gren olives

If cooking in oven preheat to 200 degrees C. Place thighs a few pies at a time in a bag with flour, salt and pepper and paprika. Shake until well coated. Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large heavy based pan and brown the chicken in batches, adding more oil as needed. Place chicken in a single layer in a tagine dish, baking dish or pot and set aside.

To make the sauce, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil you have used to brown the chicken in. Add onions and cook over a medium heat, stirring often until the onions have softened but not browned (about 5 minutes).
Add garlic and fennel and cook for a further 2 minutes to lightly soften without browning. Add tomatoes, stock, lemon and orange peel, currants in sherry, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, saffron, chilli flakes, fresh chillies and honey. Bring to a simmer and stir well to lift brownings. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Pour sauce over chicken. Add olives and bake, covered in oven for 1 hour or simmer for 45 mins on stovetop. Remove cinnamon quill and lemon and orange peel before serving.

tis dish can be stored in fridge for up to 48 hours or frozen. To serve, bring back to room temp and then reheat at 180 degrees C in oven until fully heated through (20-30 mins).