Chicken Simmered in Smen Recipe

Origin: Morocco      Period: Traditional

Ingredients

This is a traditional recipe from Fez. It uses smen, (also known as sman, semneh or sminn) which is a butter product made from sheep or goats' milk. The butter is spiced, cooked at high temperature then salted and strained. The resultant liquid will be bottled and aged before use. You can substitute ghee spiced with Berbere spice if you wish.

1.5kg chicken, cleaned, gutted and quartered
2 chicken livers, minced
140g onion, minced or grated
1/4tsp saffron threads, pounded to a paste with 2 tsp water in a pestle and mortar
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
40g parsley, roughly chopped
60ml water
3 tbsp smen
2 tbsp butter
1/2 preserved lemon
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Chicken Simmered in Smen Preparation:

Method:

Add the chicken pieces to a large casserole pot along with the livers and onion. Sprinkle with the spices and salt and toss to ensure and even coating.

Place the parsley and water in a pestle and mortar or a food processor and puree to a paste. Add half of this along with the smen to the chicken mixture. Add 250ml boiling water then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is very tender (about 50 minutes). Remove the chicken and set aside to keep warm as you continue to cook the sauce, uncovered, for a further 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the butter in a pan and use this to gently brown the chicken pieces. Transfer to a serving dish, cover and keep warm. Now add the remaining parsley paste to the casserole sauce and increase the heat, reducing the liquid to about 360ml. Allow to cool a little, tip the sauce (and any bits in the dish) into a blender and puree until smooth.

Clean the casserole dish, return the chicken to this, pour the sauce over the chicken and allow the dish to re-heat. Cut the preserved lemon in quarters, discard the pulp and finely-chop the peel. Sprinkle this over the chicken and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning as necessary. Plate-out the chicken onto a serving tray, drizzle the sauce over the top and pour the lemon juice over the top. Serve immediately.

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