Moroccan lemon

Moroccan lemon - with butter chicken

The chicken was arranged in a layer and all the spices were just scattered over them. The contents were brought to a boil and and then transfered to the oven. The finished product smells and tastes delish.The only thing that I had to change was the temperatures and timings. With the suggested temperatures, it would have taken me hours, although he mentions a much lesser baking period.

Anyway, the final dish was absolutely gorgeous and we did like it a lot...so here's the recipe.

recipe material :-

approximately 1.5 kg of chicken ( I used pieces from a whole chicken)
2 and 1/2 tblsp of butter, melted
1/2 tsp(more or less) of crushed red chillies
1/2 lemon, cut into wedges(the original recipe uses pickled ones)
2 large onions
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 bay leaves
1 tsp each of ground cinnamon and ginger
water or stock
handful of green olives
salt and freshly ground pepper as taste

How to make -

1. Rub the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and arrange them (in a single layer) in a shallow casserole or heatproof pan, preferably, one with a lid(one in which the chicken pieces can huddle together in asingle layer, without much of a gap between them)
2. Grate the onion over the chicken pieces.
3. Add the bay leaves and garlic and push all this down and between the chicken pieces.
4. Sprinkle over the ground spices and stud the gaps with lemon wedges.
5. Gently pour the melted butter over the chicken pieces.
6. Spoon a little water or stock around the sides, so that it about half submerges the chicken pieces.
7. Cover the pan with a lid or foil.
8. Place the pan over heat and bring the contents to a bubble.
9. Transfer the pan to the middle rack of a pre heated oven (220 deg C) and bake for approximately 45 minutes. or till the chicken is cooked and the liquid reduces.
10. Remove the lid, and add the olives to the buttery onion pan juices.
11. Increase the heat to 250 deg C and transfer the pan (without the lid) to the top rack of the oven and bake till the top is nicely browned.

Serve the chicken with the pan juices and olives with flatbread or couscous. and
then have nice week