M'qualli Lemon Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Moroccan Bread

We love cooking Moroccan food. No surprise there, right? We particularly enjoy creating opportunities to cook in our tagine, which was the original plan for this dinner. We were especially excited to make this dish because it was our pilot recipe for preserved lemons. I've never eaten a preserved lemon before and Will had never cooked with one and we didn't know exactly what to expect, considering we had preserved them ourselves - also a first. Basically, the only not-new thing we were doing with this recipe was using the tagine...which we ultimately didn't do. Whoops! Instead, Will threw the recipe into one of our new Calphalon pans, since it didn't need to cook for too long. Plus, our tagine wasn't going to be *quite* big enough to handle all the chicken. In the long run, the recipe ended up being successful and we really enjoyed the flavor of the preserved lemons - they added a pop to the rest of the ingredients!


We chose to also try a new bread, called Moroccan bread. I'm guessing this is not the exact name for it in Morocco, but we figured we'd give it a shot instead of naan or chappati, which are our normal go-to breads. While it was a bit labor-intensive, I really really loved this bread. Because it comes in bigger pieces, there is more of a doughy factor to the bread, than we usually get with naan, much less chappati. It's not necessarily that different from other breads we make, but something about it caused it to turn out fluffier and chewier - two aspects of bread that I look for. Perhaps it's the semolina? While I may never know the scientific reasoning this bread is better, just know that it's worth trying if you're going to make a Moroccan meal - it definitely enhances the dinner! I only wish we'd had more to enjoy with our leftover chicken.

Cooking Notes for M'qualli Chicken: We didn't use olives and we didn't use a full chicken but just chicken breasts and legs. We also skipped out on the saffron threads. And then of course, we didn't use a tagine!

M'qualli Chicken with Preserved Lemons
1/4 cup olive oil
8 pieces chicken (breasts, legs, or whole chicken)
1 large red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups chicken stock (we used Better than Bouillon)
2 preserved lemons, quartered, flesh discarded and skin sliced
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tbps finely chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the olive oil in a medium-large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces, red onion, garlic, spices and salt and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken pieces are browned and the spices are fragrant. Pour in 1 cup chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Arrange the preserved lemons around the chicken pieces and sprinkle with parsley. Pour in the remaining chicken stock, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the chicken pieces are cooked. Serve with Moroccan Bread and enjoy!

Cooking Notes for Moroccan Bread: We made it into 4 rounds, instead of the 3 it caller for, just so we could each just get 2 pieces. Otherwise, we followed the recipe! We did have to use a fair amount of extra water before reaching the smooth consistency, which the recipe suggested.

Moroccan Bread
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 tbsp granulated white sugar
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
Fine semolina, for sprinkling

Sift the all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour and salt together into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Place the yeast and granulated white sugar in the well, mixing with the yeast to combine. Gradually add the remaining water and stir in the flour mixture until a dough begins to form.

Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes, adding a little extra water or flour if necessary, to make a smooth, elastic dough. Divide the dough into three equal-sized balls and place on a lightly-greased baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place for 30-45 minutes, until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 390-420 F. Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets or a baking stone and sprinkle with fine semolina. Using the palm of your hand, press and flatten the balls to 4-inch rounds. Sprinkle the tops with fine semolina and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Bake in the oven 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. It will sound hollow when tapped and fully cooked - take out just before golden for fluffier results.