Moroccan Chicken with Date Couscous
Hola! Ciao! Bonjour! Hello! It’s been a while hasn’t it?!? I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging but I got wrapped up with work stuff and just couldn’t find the time. Things have mostly settled down and I plan to get back to regularly posting and being active on my social media accounts within the next month or two. In the meantime, I’ll be posting and sharing things sporadically.
Anywho, on to the business at hand: food! Moroccan chicken with date couscous to be specific. I saw a recipe in Cooking Light for “Couscous Salad with Chicken, Dates, and Walnuts” and decided that I wanted to try making it. My process pretty much involved looking at the picture of the dish and then doing my own thing. By all means, I encourage you to riff, remix, and re-imagine the recipe as you please.
Moroccan Chicken
Salt (or Adobo)
Black Pepper
1/2 tsp of paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 skinless chicken thighs
Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl and mix with the spices until the meat is well coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. (You could also place the uncooked seasoned chicken in a zip top bag and store it in your freezer for up to 9 months. Defrost the meat overnight in your fridge prior to cooking.)
Remove the chicken from the fridge, place in a baking dish or pan, and cover with foil. Bake the chicken in a 350 degree oven. You can start checking the chicken at about 35 minutes (the chicken will develop a fairly fragrant smell when its close to being done). If the meat seems to be drying out but its not quite done you can use the pan gravy to baste the meat. The chicken is done when it reaches 165 degrees and/or the meat along the bone is white / no longer pink.
Date Couscous
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock (or broth)
1 to 2 cups of roughly chopped dates
1 small or medium chopped onion (optional)
2 cups couscous
Add the chicken stock, dates, and onion to a saucepan (a 6qt pot should be a good size). Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add salt and pepper to taste. Add the couscous to the pot and stir until all of the couscous is coated by the stock and the dates and onions are well distributed. Cover and remove the pot from the heat. Allow the couscous to stand for about 5 to 10 minutes (sort of like if you were making store bought stuffing). Uncover the pot and use a fork to fluff the couscous and break up any clumps.
Dates are very sweet. If you can’t have sugar or you’re just not a fan of sweets, use less dates and chop them into smaller pieces. I haven’t tried it as yet but I’m sure that other dried fruits and nuts could be used in addition to or as a replacement for the dates.
Tags: chicken, dinner, recipes