Chicken is one of those foods I like to refer to as “blank slate” food. It takes on a multitude of flavors wonderfully, as in this dish, and is equally delicious simply roasted with lemon and salt. Best of all, chicken isn’t a bank-breaker, is easily stretched into multiple meals (make chicken stock for soup!), and most of us like it – so I’d call that a win-win.

One of my favorite ways to prepare chicken is a Moroccan-style tagine. With a melange of spices – from saffron to cinnamon – coupled with the salty sourness of preserved lemons and olives, this dish is pure comfort food at its best! Serve it up with saffron rice or cous cous with toasted pine nuts.

Click here for the full recipe.

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Normally tagines are long-simmered dishes, but when your hungry belly can’t wait, or you simply don’t have the time, you can make them relatively fast. We threw this tagine together with leftover chicken and ingredients we already had on hand. The wonderful thing about this Moroccan dish are the many fragrant spices used, creating layers of delicious flavor. We were missing dried fruits so we opted roasted red pepper for added sweetness, and threw in some mild green olives (not the martini kind), which gave it another element of color.

Chicken Tagine With Coucous

2  tablespoons  olive oil
1 chicken, skin removed and cut into chunks
1  medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup mild green olives, sliced
4  large garlic cloves, minced
1  tablespoon  minced fresh ginger
1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1  teaspoon  ground turmeric
1  teaspoon  ground coriander
1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
2  cardamom pods, lightly crushed

1 roasted red pepper
2  small dried red chilies
2 small preserved lemons, sliced
1  teaspoon  salt
4  cups  reduced-sodium chicken broth
5  fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs plus 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2  cups  couscous
1/4  cup  lightly toasted pine nuts
1  teaspoon  grated fresh lemon zest

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Drain all but 2 tablespoons of oil from pot and reduce heat to medium. Add onion and sauté until golden. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, black pepper, cardamom pods, chilies, preserved lemons, olives, and salt; stir to combine.

Return chicken to pot and add 2 cups chicken broth, and parsley sprigs. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 40 minutes. Take pot off heat and remove parsley sprigs and chilies.

For the couscous:
In a covered medium saucepan, bring remaining 2 cups chicken broth to a boil. Turn off heat, stir in couscous, cover, and let sit 5 minutes. Uncover pan and fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in 2 tbsp. minced parsley, pine nuts, and lemon zest and toss to combine.

Mound couscous on a platter. Top with chicken thighs and pour sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Serves 4.

Optional ingredients: 15 apricots, sliced.

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