tandoori meets tagine

ah, chicken. how do i love thee? in this case, skinned and baked to bits with Moroccan preserved lemons! so, i found myself thinking back to roundtree casbah, an evening of friends, food, and music, par excellence. in particular i loved the lemon chicken, if you are now picturing schilling lemon chicken sauteed on the stove: stop right there. this chicken bears as much resemblance to that as the dilapidated ponies at the county fair "cowboy ride" do to the winner at the derby. first get a whole chicken and divest it of it's skin. it's not the most pleasant task but not too difficult, actually. rinse the chicken well and let it sit and dry while you combine in a food processor (or by chopping) a handful of fresh cilantro, two cloves of garlic, and one half of a preserved lemon. the preserved lemon sounds fancy, but it's not. meyer lemons work best, simply cut into them with out going all the way through from end to end cross ways (so it looks quartered but is hanging together by the pithy bits at the pointy ends) then rub with kosher salt liberally, stuff into a jar and top with a bit more salt. let them hang out in the back of the fridge for about a week and you're set. we all know that i'm not a kitchen fiddler but these little babies are worth it. what's more, they're easy and potent, each whole chicken only takes one or two lemons. if you really don't have the time or ambition you can try fresh lemons, but it's just not the same. so, back to the chicken. ummm. add to the processor some plain yogurt (the tandoori is coming in now) so that you have a thick, creamy paste. layer the bottom of a large dutch oven with onion slices and lay the chicken on top, breast up. rub the mix all over the chicken inside and out, place one half of a preserved lemon inside the bird and tuck one quarter in the nook below each breast. add a handful of dried apricots, some in the bird, some around or under. sprinkle the bird with ras al hout (Moroccan spice mix) if you want to or just some cinnamon will do, put the lid on and put in the oven at 350 for two hours. after two hours flip the chicken breast side down and cook for another hour. you now have a delicious chicken and some lovely broth on your hands. personally i got three meals out of this. i served it for dinner carved with quinoa tabbouleh, in tortillas for lunch the next day, then i picked the bones and simmered lentils in the broth to thicken it to stew and served that over rice. it never got old, and i can't wait to make it again.