BRAISED CHICKEN WITH HARISSA & OLIVES

Our go-to braised harissa chicken is so easy to put together and SO delicious! It brings big, bold flavors to your table, which is what New York Shuk is all about. The best thing about this dish is that it’s simple to adapt and you can play around with ingredients you have on hand. For a one-pot meal, arrange a layer of potatoes, sliced ¼ inch thick, over the olive oil in the pan, then top with the onions and tomatoes. To change things up, stir in a can of chickpeas or white beans (rinsed and drained) during the last 30 minutes of cooking. No fresh tomatoes on hand? Use 3 canned whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped or cut into wedges, instead. If you like things hot and spicy, swap the Ras el Hanout for 1 teaspoon of our Fiery Harissa. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe works beautifully cooked in a Moroccan tagine, so if you have a traditional clay tagine ready to be taken out of the cupboard, make this dish and read the notes at the end of the recipe.
In North Africa the word tagine has two meanings: It’s used to describe a succulent, stew-like dish such as this one, as well as the clay vessel it’s slow-cooked in. For more information, click on this link.

Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into half-moons ⅛ inch thick
3 medium tomatoes, each cut into 10 wedges
3-3½ pounds chicken (7 thighs, bone-in and skinless)
3/4 cup New York Shuk Signature Harissa
1 teaspoon New York Shuk Ras el Hanout
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup green olives, such as Castelvetrano, pitted and roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled
½ bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped 
¼ cup water

In a 12-inch sauté pan with a lid, off the heat, drizzle in the olive oil and scatter the onions over the oil. Layer the tomatoes on top and set aside. 

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, Signature Harissa, Ras el Hanout and salt and stir until the chicken is evenly coated. Arrange the chicken in a single layer on top of the vegetables in the pan. Scatter ½ cup of the olives, the garlic cloves and cilantro over the chicken, then pour in the water. Cover with the lid.

Place the pan over high heat and bring to a simmer, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender, about 1½ hours. 

If you are left with a lot of liquid, remove the lid, keep the chicken in the pan, and increase the heat to high. Cook until the sauce thickens, 10-15 minutes longer; swirl the pan with the sauce during the last few minutes of cooking to make sure it doesn't stick.

You want the onions and tomatoes to become very jammy and the sauce to thicken up beautifully. Remove from the heat and add the remaining ½ cup olives. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes or fresh crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

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When making the dish in a traditional clay tagine, you can follow the recipe above, with these adjustments:

1. Slowly heat the clay tagine using a diffuser; otherwise it will crack and won’t be usable any more.

2. Because a traditional tagine is more shallow, you will need to decrease the amount of liquid in the recipe. Use 1 tomato instead of 3, and omit the ¼ cup water.

3. Cook for 2 hours and then remove the lid and let the sauce thicken for about 1 hour longer, depending on the amount of liquid you have left.