Cracked Green Olives With Herbs And Preserved Lemon Recipes

CRACKED GREEN OLIVES WITH HERBS AND PRESERVED LEMON

Steps:

• If using uncracked whole olives, crush lightly with flat side of large knife on a cutting board. In a large bowl cover olives with cold water and soak 4 hours to remove excess salt. Drain olives well. In a bowl stir together olives and remaining ingredients and marinate, covered and chilled, at least 6 hours or overnight. Olives may be prepared 1 week ahead and kept chilled, covered.
• Serve olives at room temperature.

CHICKEN LEGS, PRESERVED LEMONS, AND GREEN OLIVES

Steps:

• Generously salt chicken legs on all sides. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
• Heat 1 tablespoon fat in the bottom of a stainless steel tagine over medium-high heat. Add 3 of the chicken legs and cook, turning once, 3 to 4 minutes on all sides, until well browned. Remove legs from pan and repeat process with remaining 3 chicken legs. Remove from pan and set aside.
• Discard all but 2 tablespoons fat from tagine. If fat is burnt, discard and add remaining 2 tablespoons. Place tagine over medium-high heat, stirring often and adjusting heat as necessary, until rich golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, remove all racks from oven except for bottom rack so that tagine will fit. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Add coriander, white pepper, ginger, saffron, and turmeric to tagine; cook, stirring constantly, until spices are lightly toasted, about 1 1/2 minutes. Return chicken legs to tagine; add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover tagine and transfer to oven; cook until chicken is tender and beginning to pull away from ends of drumsticks, about 40 minutes.
• Remove chicken legs from tagine and set aside. Return tagine to stove and simmer over medium-high heat until liquid is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Season with salt. Add lemons and olive; cook until heated through. Whisk in butter and herbs.
• Arrange chicken legs on a platter and spoon sauce over them; serve immediately.

PAULA WOLFERT'S SEVEN-DAY PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Dry lemons well and cut each into 8 wedges. In a bowl toss wedges with salt and transfer to a glass jar (about 6-cup capacity). Add lemon juice and cover jar with a tight-fitting glass lid or plastic-coated lid. Let lemons stand at room temperature 7 days, shaking jar each day to redistribute salt and juice. Add oil to cover lemons and store, covered and chilled, up to 6 months.

CHICKEN TAGINE WITH OLIVES AND PRESERVED LEMONS

Steps:

• Mix garlic, saffron, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric together. If not using kosher chicken, add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add pepper to taste. Rub chicken with mixture, cover, refrigerate and marinate 3 to 4 hours.
• Heat oil in heavy skillet. Add chicken, and brown on all sides. Remove to platter. Add onions to skillet, and cook over medium-low heat about 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to tagine, if you are using one, or leave in skillet. Add cinnamon stick.
• Put chicken on onions. Scatter with olives. Quarter the lemons, remove pulp and cut skin in strips. Scatter over chicken. Mix stock and lemon juice. Pour over chicken.
• Cover tagine or skillet. Place over low heat, and cook about 30 minutes, until chicken is done. Scatter parsley on top, and serve.