Quick Moroccan Chicken with Green Olives

The Challenge

Creating an assertively flavored tagine, the sumptuously braised meat-and-vegetable dish of North Africa, with all of its meaty, aromatic, stewed-for-hours goodness.

The Convention

Sourcing hard-to-find ingredients and a laundry list of spices for traditional tagine recipes, which are labor-intensive and time-consuming to boot.

The Quickie

Using boneless chicken thighs (versus the traditional bone-in meat) to shave off cooking time, and subbing in easier-to-find ingredients with no major loss of Moroccan-inspired flavors.

HOW THIS QUICKIE WORKS

• The boneless chicken thighs are cut in half to cook even more quickly in the Dutch oven
• Garam masala, a prepared Indian spice mix, and paprika do a superb (and simple) job of spicing up things
• Lemon zest and juice add a perfect twist of citrus brightness to the rich dish