Chicken m’qalli with preserved lemon and red olives

Ingredients

• 1 free-range chicken of 1.5 kg
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp chopped coriander and parsley
• 8 cl oil
• ½ preserved lemon
• 1 tsp smen (aged, salted butter), optional
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 heaped tsp ginger
• 8 saffron threads
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt
• Water
• To serve:
• 100 g red olives
• Strips of preserved lemon peel

Method

1. For the marinade, mix the onion, garlic, herbs, the finely diced preserved lemon, lemon juice, smen, spices, salt and oil well.
2. Rub the chicken with the marinade, inside and under the skin as well, and truss it with kitchen string.
3. Put the chicken with the rest of the marinade into a pot over a medium heat.
4. Add as much water as the chicken needs to cook and cook it covered over a low heat.
5. Carefully lift out the cooked chicken and keep it warm.
6. Add the red olives to the pot and let the sauce reduce.
7. Pour the sauce over the chicken, top with the olives and the strips of lemon peel and serve.