Chicken tagine with olives and lemon, and The Great Grain Robbery

As the spring grass grows, the horses arrive later and later for their breakfast; some days they don’t bother to come back at all, preferring to loiter in the fields like dirty stop outs. A few weeks ago, Luc prepared their morning feed, and, as they showed no inclination to grace us with their presence, he set the buckets aside for later and we went out. While we were out, a friend stopped by the house and ‘phoned us to ask whether it was normal that four little boars were eating out of the horses’ buckets. Had we expanded our menagerie without telling him?

I went to London last week to visit my mother. They have, once again, changed the customs rules, and if you have dual nationality, as I do, you have to travel with both passports, risking a fine if you don’t comply. When I arrived at the UK border, I couldn’t remember which passport to produce and said, confused and flustered: ‘I’m bisexual, which one do you want?’ Luckily I think I must have come across one of the few border officials with a sense of humour because he roared with laughter saying: ‘whatever takes your fancy, we’re easy!’

I arrived at my mother’s Carehome to be told that she wasn’t immediately available as she was taking boxing lessons, but would be free very shortly. Things just keep getting more and more surreal.

I love all tagines, but with this one, the sharpness of the lemons and the saltiness of the olives pair particularly well with the slow cooked chicken thighs.

Recipe for chicken tagine with olives and lemon (serves 4)

• Pinch of saffron
• 200ml boiling water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion sliced
• 3 garlic cloves chopped finely, grated or crushed
• 2 cm fresh ginger grated
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon runny honey
• 1 preserved lemon sliced finely
• 8 boneless chicken thighs (or bone in chicken thighs if you prefer)
• 150 g pitted green olives
• 2 tablespoons parsley or coriander to garnish

Put a pinch of saffron in a measuring jug and add the boiling water. Stir with a spoon and set aside to ‘bloom’. Drizzle the olive oil into a large saucepan and add the sliced onion. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until the onions have softened.

Add in the salt and pepper, garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, honey and preserved lemon. Stir, then fry for another minute. Add the chicken thighs, stir to coat the chicken and fry gently for a couple of minutes. Add in the saffron infused water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down low and cover the frying pan. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, checking and stirring from time to time.

Remove the lid and add in the green olives. Stir everything together and bring back to the boil. Cook for a further 15 minutes with the lid off, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thickened and is coating the chicken nicely.

Garnish with the parsley or coriander and serve with rice or couscous and a green salad.