That, along with some ground ginger, turmeric and chopped parsley made the dry rub complete so I slathered my chicken pieces with ghee, a clarified butter that can be purchased in the international aisle of most supermarkets. I then rubbed them with the spice mixture and set to readying my tagine for the cooking process.
I put the chicken in the tagine, along with the pulp of a preserved lemon and some sliced onions, and turned the heat on. Not more than 3 minutes had gone by when I heard a loud pop, and then found a piece of red ceramic halfway across my kitchen. You wonder what's going on? Yea, so did I. Turns out, my tagine was cracking from the bottom up, and fast. Of course, I started to yell, and started flailing around the kitchen in an attempt to save my dinner! I grabbed another pot, transferred the chicken and onions, and set them to continue cooking over another burner while I tended to "the situation." By the time the tagine had cooled, and I had wiped it clean, pieces had started to fall out of the center of the dish.
I stopped taking pictures at this point because I was a bit flustered. Needless to say, the chicken continued to cook, the chickpeas were added, and cooked. The last thing added was just an ounce of rice...I can't really explain the necessity for this ingredient, but at this point, I was just following instructions.
The finished product was a rich and hearty stew of chicken, chickpeas and melting onions with a lemony-saffron sauce that was really satisfying. I served it with some couscous instead of the tomato dish that I had originally planned on in the Current Menu. After the "tagine incident," I figured it best to just go the straightforward and easy route! I'm still the hero though, for I SAVED DINNER!
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