I recently agreed to take part in the Traveling Tajine Project that Garrett at Vanilla Garlic set forth. As it turns out, I was first on the list to get this enameled earthenware cooking pot. So I'm happy to be cooking a braised meat dish in the dead of winter and not the high heat of summer!

Briefly, a tajine (or tagine) is a cooking vessel native to Morocco. The conical lid traps steam to help braise a meat stew and trap in the flavors. Traditionally, tajines were used over open flames or by burying them in red-hot coals. This one, however, is earthenware and not to be used on a stovetop (other brands can be put over a flame with a heat disperser). The name tajine is used both for the cooking pot and the resulting stew, which is often made with lamb or chicken, olives, cinnamon, preserved lemons, and may be garnished with almonds and dates.

I have a lamb tagine recipe in my cookbook (see left column and BUY IT!), as it turns out, but I wanted to start with something really authentic and then work my way up to a couple of variations. So I looked up tajines in The Africa Cookbookby Jessica B. Harris. She has both a lamb and chicken version. The only challenge was that this one, as most modern tajine recipes are, was written with stovetop instructions only. So I put on my recipe developer hat and winged it.

I have finally broken myself of the habit of using every dish in the kitchen for one recipe (since I have to wash them, too). So I wish I could have just used the tajine for everything. But I wanted some browning on the chicken. Next time I think I'll try preheating the tajine in the oven with some oil, then adding the meat to it to brown a bit before stirring in everything else (this was a technique I worked out for my one-pot dishes in my book). Here's how the recipe evolved: