Moroccan chicken bake with celeriac, olives, & preserved lemon
Here is a great, easy Moroccan chicken bake with the flavors of a tajine. Celeriac, olives, preserved lemon zest, and plenty of spices make this dish stand out. This one-pan chicken bake comes together fast, too. Just marinate the chicken and vegetables ahead of time, then pop it in the oven. Once cooked, top with lemon juice and fresh parsley, and it’s ready to serve.
Tajine turned chicken bake
A traditional tajine cooks in the eponymous earthenware pot with its recognizable conical lid. The result is a slow-cooked stew with extra-tender meat. For our chicken bake, the meat will be tender, but also with crispy skin. Traditional ingredients include a meat, vegetables and/or dried fruit, and spices such as cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric. Flatbread often accompanies a tajine, but it is also delicious served over buttery couscous or rice.
For this recipe, we take the flavors of a tajine, and turn them into an easy Moroccan chicken bake. We add a few less-traditional spices to complement the celeriac, along with olives and preserved lemon for a salty and acidic contrast to the chicken. Roasting uncovered at the beginning lets the chicken and vegetables brown, and covering for the last 15 minutes ensures everything stays nice and moist.
Celeriac
Celeriac, or celery root, is the star vegetable in this dish. Here in France, celeriac is a rather popular vegetable, often eaten raw in salads or cooked into a purée. In Moroccan cuisine, it can make an appearance in variations on tajine or harira soup. In the US, celeriac is not widely used, but trend predictors think 2024 might be the year its popularity grows.
To use celeriac, just chop off the knobby skin, and the flesh is quite easy to chop up like a potato. Eaten raw, it is crunchy like a carrot with a flavor somewhere between celery sticks, radishes, and potatoes. Cooking, especially roasting, brings out the sweetness in celeriac and erases any bitterness. A splash of lemon juice balances out its flavor nicely, and the texture is like cooked potatoes.
Preserved lemon
One ingredient that is less common for a western cook is preserved lemon. These are lemons that have been slow pickled in a salt brine, and they are quite popular in north African cuisine. They add a burst of flavor, with a lemony punch sharper than simple lemon zest. If you can’t find preserved lemons, the zest of 1 large lemon will do, but it is not quite the same.
I hope you enjoy this easy Moroccan chicken bake! Bon appétit!
Moroccan chicken bake with celeriac, olives, & preserved lemon
Ingredients
- 1 celeriac celery root
- 4 large shallots
- ½ cup cured green olives halved (about 28 small olives)
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) chicken legs skin on
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 ½ tsp fennel seeds
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger
- ½ tsp salt
- Black pepper to taste
- 20 g (¼ cup) chopped preserved lemon zest
- 50 ml (3.5 tbsp) olive oil
- 150 ml (⅔ cup) cold chicken stock
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup finely chopped parsley leaves from about 35 g whole parsley
Instructions
- With a knife, cut off the skin and knobby roots of the celeriac. Then cut the flesh into 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes. Quarter the larger shallot cloves lengthwise, and halve the smaller cloves. Halve the olives.
- Mix these vegetables with the remaining ingredients, except for the lemon juice and parsley. Marinate 2 hours or up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 240 °C (475 °F). Arrange everything in a large roasting pan, with the chicken skin-side up. Roast 30 minutes uncovered, then another 15 minutes, covered, until the chicken is cooked.
- Remove from oven. Carefully take off the foil—steam will escape. Stir in 3 tbsp lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley. Serve over couscous or rice or with flatbread.