Chicken with Green Olives and Preserved Lemons

This sounds… unusual, and doesn’t photograph particularly well, but it’s delicious. The olive and lemon flavours work really well together. This can be doubled, tripled etc and particularly good for feeding a crowd. When your kitchen on holiday is limited this is easy and quick and delicious cooked in advance. This is a taste of sunshine with the olives and lemons you would think you are in Greece. However the sun is shining in West Cork - we are in the middle of a heatwave and enjoying every moment. I will take West Cork over Greece any day - but then I am biased.

Ingredients
1 onion

2 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp ground cinnamon
300g skinless chicken thighs, on the bone
250 ml chicken stock
a strand of saffron
1 x 240g tin of chickpeas (or dried chickpeas soaked overnight)
60g preserved lemon
50g pitted green olives
a small handful of fresh coriander
2 tbsp. crème fraiche
salt and pepper

Method
Peel and slice the onions and sauté them in the oil in a big saucepan or casserole dish until just soft. Smash and chop the garlic cloves (no need to peel) and add to pan with ginger, paprika, cinnamon and cumin. Sauté for a few more minutes.
Add the chicken thighs, stock, saffron and chickpeas and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile slice the preserved lemon rind and destone and halve the olives. Add these to the pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Roughly chop the coriander.
Add the crème fraiche and coriander and turn the heat up slightly for another 5 minutes, to reduce the sauce. Adjust the seasoning and serve.
I like to serve it with couscous with herb and toasted almonds.