French Friday with Dorie
This week's recipe is a perfect autumn dish. Onions are slowly cooked for half an hour in some olive oil until they turn a lovely caramel color. Add some chicken broth, a few crushed saffron threads, cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne, a star anise point, bay leaf and honey for a flavorful broth. To make it a little easier to eat the chicken, I used boneless, skinless instead of bone-in chicken thighs. I browned them while the onions were cooking. The finishing touch was the prunes and sweet potatoes.
This smelled so good while it was cooking and the most difficult part about making this dish was leaving it alone for 45 minutes. I am one of those cooks who loves to lift the lid of the pot and stir things up a bit, so I really had to walk away from the stove because Dorie gave strict instructions that it needed to cook undisturbed.
And boy was it worth leaving alone. The broth is out-of-this-world delicious and we really loved the combination of sweet potatoes with the stewed prunes. It is a lovely one-pot meal, but I served it with some white rice to soak up some of that wonderful broth. This recipe is a keeper and one that I will be making often this fall and winter. You can see more versions of this recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.
My husband too, I think it was killing him not to be allowed to lift the lid to see how things were coming along. But I told him that Dorie had forbidden it so he actually behaved himself.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this delish? The sauce was too good to waste.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm... this DOES sound like the perfect autumn dish! Adding it to the must have list!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I had a hard time keeping the lid on too :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd the smell was pretty wonderful...
I did it over rice too and really loved the flavor of the broth as well - I'd say this was definitely a winner with most of the Doristas!
ReplyDeleteThe broth was delicious... I wish we had made some bread. Your dish looks scrumptious.
ReplyDeleteI'm hooked on boneless chicken thighs too. It seems all I buy these days are whole chickens or the boneless thighs. I really liked the broth, even though I skimped on many of the things that 'made' it. It made my evening to see Eduardo tipping over the bowl to drink it.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you just love the warm and fragrant broth? I think using the boneless thighs was the right way to go. I was disappointed with the chicken. All that time crisping up the skin, and then it just gets mushy. You are right, this is a perfect fall dish. Enjoy your weekend.
ReplyDeleteI carried it in the car to a luncheon and it almost didn't make it. It smelled so good. And I loved the blend of flavors.
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredibly flavoursome and addictive looking dish :)
ReplyDeleteCheers
Choc Chip Uru
I love tagines, and this one looks wonderful. Can't wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteI realized I didn't even mention how delicious the broth was. Delicious photos!
ReplyDeleteElaine, it is so nice to read that you enjoyed this recipe so much, prunes and all! It looks very lovely the way you presented it and I agree with you, white rice was really good with this chicken tagine!
ReplyDeleteYour description makes me want to make this right now!
ReplyDeleteI liked the sweet accents in this dish too. sounds like yours turned out just right!
ReplyDeletelifting the lid was really magical, wasn't it? :) Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis sauce was delicious wasn't it? We loved it and glad you did too.
ReplyDeleteYou did better than I did, Elaine, I lifted the lid and peeked three times during the 25 minutes. I just couldn't not....... Wasn't this delicious and not particularly difficult to put together. Anything that's a one-pot meal works for me. Most of us will definitely make this again it appears. This was a good week for the Doristas.
ReplyDeleteHi Elaine! I'm so glad I read your comments on making the tagine because I'm making it for dinner tomorrow night and I am for sure taking the skin of the chicken thighs- great idea!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try the recipe, did not have time to make it last week but it looks and sounds delicious-love all the spices;-)
What a perfect fall chicken dish - with a bit of flair! Looks delicious - especially over the rice. And good restraint on your part! :)
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