Maria's "Sunday Brunch" inspired Chicken Tagine

Chicken Tagine with spicy couscous 

Unfortunately, due to work and Lauren's clubs etc. Sunday has become my ironing day. I really don't like ironing, but I like things to be ironed, a bit of a paradox, so my compromise is that I'm suitably entertained whilst I iron.

If I can get myself organised early enough, this entertainment comes in the form of Channel 4's Sunday Brunch, hosted by friends Simon Rimmer and Tim Lovejoy, a magazine programme with cooking high on the agenda, but with music and guests too. A more interesting version of the BBC's Saturday Kitchen.

Last time I watched they made a delicious looking Chicken Tagine and if you want their recipe it's here. it has extra ingredients to mine like peas and preserved lemons. I didn't have all those ingredients for that so I made my own version.

Maria's Chicken Tagine

Take 600g boneless, skinless chicken thighs and dust them in a couple of tablespoons of seasoned plain flour.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based, non stick pan and fry the chicken thighs on a medium/high heat until they are browned all over. Remove from the pan and leave to rest.

Turn down the pan and fry a medium, sliced onion, 2 cloves of garlic, sliced, 2cm grated, fresh ginger and a chopped red chilli (including the seeds). When they have softened, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika (smoked if you have it - I didn't and used sweet paprika, you could use the hot version too), 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Stir in a good squirt of ideally tomato puree but I have to say I had run out and so I used some tomato ketchup instead. Then add in 7 chopped plum tomatoes (I don't skin them, just pluck out the skins as they come free during cooking), 1 large chopped courgette, add the chicken back into the pan along with 500 ml chicken stock and a squirt of runny honey (about a tablespoon) and cook for at least 30 minutes until the chicken is tender and the sauce is juicy but tasty. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. I had a good strong red chilli, but if it's not spicy enough try adding a little chilli powder or some chilli flakes to get it to how you like it, obviously if you dont like spice heat leave out the chilli.

I served ours with some couscous which I made with some chicken stock but also flavoured with various spices - chilli flakes, turmeric, cumin, coriander - both leaf and ground, salt and pepper.

The sauce of the tagine is really full bodied and flavoursome, the spices have a real depth, especially from the cinnamon and actually a plain rice or couscous would probably work well too. The chicken was really tender and melt in the mouth. It really was a taste explosion.

The variations for this are probably limitless, you can choose the meat of your choice, you could add some prunes or dried apricots, you could add some chick peas or butter beans and then serve with some flat breads instead of couscous.

Give it a go, it was really easy to make.