Preserved Lemon and Olive Chicken

I love the flavors in this Preserved Lemon and Olive Chicken dish.  You get the brininess of the olives and the sweetness and tartness of the lemons. That sounds pretty Food Network of me.  Don’t jump on my words, I am just trying to explain the flavors of this dish.  This recipe was 100% made up. I just put together ingredients that I thought I would like.  For those of us that do not know what preserved lemons are, it is cutting up lemons, adding some salt and maybe some extra lemon juice.  Then slow cooking them in the oven for a few hours.  This intensifies there flavor.  I learned among the many Google responses that came back from my search that this is a common ingredient in Moroccan cooking.

With the addition of the olives, this dish definitely hails from the Mediterranean.  This dish is simple and full of flavor.  This recipe will work year round.  It is made much like a stew or can be made in your slow cooker.  Yet, given how light the ingredients are, it is perfect for the summer as well. The chicken is poached in the chicken broth and some of the lemon juice for added flavor.  I even added some of the olive brine in this stock to impart as much of the olive flavor as possible.

I have to tell you that I do not eat or like olives by themselves.  I am really learning to appreciate them in cooking.  They add a very strong flavor that works so well is recipes.  The first recipe that I really used olives in, and I mean I added extra olives, was my Chicken Sofrito Roulade.   As you will read, this roulade was a creation from all the extra sofrito I had from my arroz con pollo.  I could not get enough of it.

The lemons and salt in the baking dish pre-bake, and then, lemons squeezed and being preserved.

The stock and spices in the Dutch Oven; the chicken added, and then, the herbs and preserved lemons added back in.

The Preserved Lemon and Olive Chicken plated.