MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH TOMATOES, CHICKPEAS, AND MINT

Tagine

This is a version of a tagine, a classic Moroccan stew. Although I have an authentic tagine, I prepare this dish in my Dutch oven.  I use only the dark meat because it stays moist when braised and absorbs the variety of spices really well.  This is delicious served over couscous (preferably tri-colored).

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups onion, thinly sliced
6 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon peeled ginger, minced
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water
2 cups diced tomatoes drained (28 ounce can)
2 cups canned garbanzo (chickpeas) beans, drained (two 15-ounce cans)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro stems, chopped
3 preserved lemons*, thinly sliced and seeds removed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
8 chicken thighs with bones, skin removed
8 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
¼ cup chopped mint
*available at specialty markets.

Heat oil in heavy large pot (preferably a Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger. Cover and cook until onion is tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add paprika and next 6 ingredients; stir 1 minute. Stir in water, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cilantro, preserved lemons, and lemon juice. Bring to boil. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper; add to pot in a single layer and simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn chicken over, cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 20 minutes more.  Season with salt and pepper and more lemon juice, if desired. Sprinkle with mint.

Serve over couscous, preferably tri-colored.  Serves 4

Moroccan Chicken

 

CROCK POT (OR LAZY -- OR SEMI - LAZY) CHICKEN

I've made many chickens in the oven. Also many Cornish hens, poussins, ducks, quail, and geese.  However, recently, I decided to try an experiment and make a beautiful chicken in the crock pot. Well, not "so lazy" since the last time I made the chicken that way, I received comments about not seeing the brown skin on the chicken*.  Okay... so I became "semi-lazy" -- not semi homemade. If I don't want to be really lazy, before throwing the bird into the crock pot, I will, first, brown it in a cast iron skillet coated with olive oil.

Oh...what an easy way to cook...or not cook.   Is it being lazy?  Well, maybe...or maybe not...the taste at the end is the tell-tale sign of the minimal effort which resulted a robust and succulent chicken (did I say that?  a succulent chicken?)... And, the extra step of browning prior to putting the chicken into the crock pot is a bonus, I must admit.

Ingredients:

1 chicken, 6-8 lbs
Olive Oil* (optional)
2 stalks of celery, sliced into 1/2" pieces
2 carrots, also sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 onion, sliced thin, also 1/2" pieces
1 lemon, again sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 lime, sliced into 1/2" pieces (are we getting bored yet?)
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
2 sprigs of fresh sage
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cups of chicken stock, preferably homemade

First, remove giblets and wash chicken.

Let chicken sit for a few minutes.  After a "bath",  it's always good to rest a little.

*If you have a "picky" customer or husband or whomever and  they want the chicken to have a "browned skin", then brown it on the stove top in a cast iron (or any kind of) pan saturated in olive oil, prior to placing it in the "lazy" crock pot.

Next, Place all of the celery, carrots, onion, lemon and lime slices on the bottom of the crock pot.

Then, stuff the chicken with the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme herbs.  Feel free to sing the song while doing this.  I do.
Finally, place the chicken in the crock pot atop of the beautiful bed of vegetables.  Add the chicken stock. 

Cook on High setting for 6 hours.

That's it.  Crock pot chicken (or lazy chicken?).  Done to perfection.  Really.

HERB- CITRUS ROASTED CHICKEN

• 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) chicken
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, fresh
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage, fresh
• 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary, fresh
• 2 tablespoons chopped thyme, fresh
• 4-5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 1 lemon quartered
• 1 lime, quartered
• Dash of black pepper, preferably butcher block
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 celery stalks, stripped of the fine threads and cut into long strips
• 2 carrots, peeled, and cut into long strips
• 2 onions, yellow, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch rounds.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Fill a large (more than 5 quarts) pot with water. Bring to a boil. Let the boiling water sit for about 5-10 minutes. Place the chicken into the pot to “cleanse”. Let chicken stay in the warm water bath for about 5 minutes. Remove chicken and pat dry. All of the “elements” would be removed at this point and you will have a very clean chicken.

Take the herbs and mix with the melted butter. Rub the butter-herb mixture under the skin of the chicken and inside the cavity. Also, add the lemon and lime quarters and garlic inside the cavity. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes while you prepare its roasting pan bed of mireproix

Make a mirepoix bed in the roasting pan, consisting of the celery, carrots, and onions. Then, Place the rested chicken on top of this. Drizzle olive oil and Pepper on top of chicken and inside the cavity.

Place chicken (in the roasting pan) in the oven. Then, after every 15 minutes, turn chicken’s roasting pan one-quarter of the way --clockwise. Until done. About 1 hour and 15 minutes. After chicken is roasted, remove from oven and let sit for about 20 minutes. This has to be the best chicken you’ve ever eaten. Clean, fresh, nutritious and full of flavor.