Make the chermoula by mixing all the ingredients together, saving the preserved lemon rind. You could place everything in a chopper for a smoother paste. Set aside.
Marinate the Chicken
Marinate the chicken portions with it and set aside while you get the other ingredients going.If you have the time, leave the chicken to marinate for about an hour, or even overnight, in the fridge.
Let's Get Cooking
Slice the preserved lemon rind into thin slithers and set aside.
Take your chosen cooking pot, whether a tagine, a dutch oven or a regular old saucepan and line it with the sliced onions.
Follow with the tomato slices.
Then, place the chicken all around the pot, over the tomatoes, spreading them out and packing them in neatly. Reserve the extra chermoula.
Scatter the preserved lemon rind slices all over.
Arrange the potatoes and carrot slices with their ends meeting in the middle, forming a slight dome shape, as in the picture. Don't worry about neatness. If you have too many, do an extra layer or tuck them in amongst the chicken.
The apple slices are going to be too small to "line up" alongside the potatoes and carrots, so I like to just "insert" them in whatever spaces I can see. But feel free to line them up double to meet the length of the carrots and potatoes.
Pour the water on the side of your cooking pot, without it touching and "rinsing" the chicken.
Finally, top the vegetables and fruit with the rest of the chermoula.
Place the pot on the hob on medium high heat, remembering the diffuser if you are using a tagine itself.
Bring everything to a simmer, then lower the heat almost right down and cook for 2 hours if using a tagine and 1 hour if not. Check to make sure that the potatoes are done.
When done, take off heat and leave the tagine to rest for 10 minutes.
Scatter the herbs all over and serve.
Notes
Total time does not include extra marinade time, if that's what you're doing.