New Toys

Every year I like to add a little something new to my kitchen collection. I have all the basics, nice basics too, but sometimes you just need to add that pot or dish that has only one purpose. It’s a toy. You’ll use it maybe two times a year, but when you do…you love it.

Last year was a cast iron fondue pot. It sat for almost a year until I busted it out for a goat cheese fondue. But, boy was I happy to have it then.

This year the new toy is a tagine oven. Tagine refers to both the cooking vessel and the dish…much like the term “casserole”. Tagines are North African in origin and most folks would have experienced them as being a Moroccan dish. Yum. The food is cooked in a conical lidded clay pot. The clay heats the food at a slow, even rate and keeps it from drying out. The conical lid has a small steam hole and the entire dish can be used on the stovetop or in the oven. Genius I tell you. I love cooking tagines, and usually do them in a standard pot. Well, last night I busted out the official oven and am in love with the real cooking vessel now. I’m going to have to make some type of Moroccan stew at least once a month now, just to use my tagine.

Having the right pot to cook in, I wanted to cook an authentic dish. I chose chicken with preserved lemon and olives. The oven worked very well…and I was a touch skeptical at first. I’m not used to cooking in a clay pot over a hot flame. I kept worrying about it cracking, or not getting hot enough to brown the chicken or the dish taking way to long to cook. Little should I have worried; there is reason clay pots have been in vogue all over the world for a very long time. They work great. The chicken turned out very nice indeed. I can’t wait to make a lamb and prune tagine…I’m sure the lamb will turn out to be as tender as I’ve always dreamed it could be. Yes, I sometimes dream about tender lamb.

Who doesn’t?