Pork Tenderloin or Chicken Tajine

 

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 pork tenderloins, each cut into 4 pieces, or 1 chicken cut into 4 or 8 pieces
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 orange, quartered
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 5 thyme springs
  • 2 rosemary sprigs 3 bay leaves
  • ¼ cup raisins
  • 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
  • 1 tbsp. ras-al-hanout (it’s a Moroccan spice mix you can buy)
  • 1 tbsp. sweet paprika
  • 3 cups chicken stock

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven 350F.
  2. Heat oil in Dutch oven. Season the pork or chicken and brown in batches over moderately high heat until golden on all sides. Transfer to a plate.
  3. Put carrots, onion, orange, garlic, herbs, bay leaves and dried fruit in the same pot and sauté 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour, tomato paste, ginger, ras-al-hanout and paprika. Cook for a minute. Add protein, juice and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover and braise 1 ½ hours.

Additional Notes

Most folks serve this with couscous. I prefer to serve it with barley risotto. Here’s how you make it:
Bring 4 cups of salted water to a boil. Toss in 1 cup of barley. Cook for ten minutes. Drain. Melt 1 tbsp. butter in a large skillet. Toss barley to coat in the butter and add ½ cup of beef stock. Cook over moderate-high heat until absorb. Repeat 4 times (2 cups of stock) or until the barley is tender.