Kieran’s mum got me a tagine for Christmas that I’ve not had the opportunity to use yet, so when I had a chicken to use and didn’t fancy a roast, I thought it would be a good chance to give a tagine a go.

It was the first time that I jointed a chicken and I have to say it was pretty easy – and I made some lovely stock out of the spine and leg ends, so will be doing it more from now on!

Ingredients

• 1 jointed chicken, skin on
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• half an onion roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , sliced
• 4cm piece ginger , grated
• 1 tsp cumin seeds , lightly crushed
• 1 tsp coriander seeds , lightly crushed
• 2 small cinnamon sticks
• large pinch saffron threads
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• pinch crushed dried chilli
• 375g peeled sweet potato , cut into chunks
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1 rounded tbsp clear honey
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C/gas 4. Season all the chicken. Heat the oil in a mediumsize ovenproof casserole dish. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and brown well all over – you can do it in batches. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Lower heat slightly, add the onions to the pan and cook until golden brown all over. Add the garlic and grated ginger and cook for 30 secs before adding all the spices and cooking for 1 min more.
3. Throw the sweet potato into the pan and stir to coat in the spices. Arrange the chicken, skin side uppermost, on top of the onions and sweet potato. Pour over the stock and drizzle in the honey. Bring to a gentle simmer, then transfer to the oven to bake for 40 mins until tender. Scatter with the coriander and serve with couscous and a bowl of harissa, if you like.