Moroccan Chickpea Tagine
A tagine is a dish and also a clay cooking vessel. As a vessel, it has a tall, cone-shaped or domed lid that very cleverly recirculates moisture. You can easily make one with a shallow skillet and lid, but an unglazed clay tagine is a marvel. Moroccan and Mediterranean food expert Paula Wolfert says that a pot or tagine without any glaze retains the memory of everything you’ve ever cooked in it. It’s a soft, gentle memory, but it’s there, so it’s best to dedicate each clay tagine to a rough category of food. Maybe one for vegetables and chicken and another for fish.
This recipe is a very typical chicken tagine — only there’s no chicken. We’ve switched the chicken for cooked garbanzos, and it’s possibly even better! Eat with flatbread or plain white rice.
Heat a tagine or heavy-bottomed, shallow, lidded pan over low heat and add the olive oil, followed by the onion. Mash the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt and add to the pan. Cook until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Add the ginger, saffron water, cinnamon, lemon juice, preserved lemon (rind and pulp), parsley and cilantro and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to let the flavors combine.
Arrange the garbanzos on top and scatter over the olives. Pour the broth into the pan, cover tightly and simmer very gently for about 45 minutes, until the mixture is cooked down.
Season to taste with pepper and additional salt. Garnish with cilantro.
Eat your way across L.A.
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