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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Do you ever get tired of having rice, potatoes or pasta as your side dish? Why not try couscous? The “rice” of North Africa, couscous is used in many delicious dishes and prepared in a variety of ways. Most refer to it as Moroccan, but it is equally a staple in Lebanese, Libyan, Algerian and Tunisian cuisines, among others. While often associated with the grain family, it’s actually a coarse semolina pasta.

Couscous is so versatile you can flavor it with fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat, herbs, spices or a combination of any of these. Think of succulent turmeric stewed lamb; currents, mint and pistachios; herbs, almonds and preserved lemons. Makes me want to ride a camel to a tented oasis in the desert at sunset, have my hands washed in tepid rose petal water and eat sweet, earthy, aromatic delights with my fingers. Heavenly! (Though maybe I could leave the camel there and take a cab back? Somehow bouncing around with a full belly on a camel ruins the whole romantic Lawrence of Arabia thing).

To go with our chicken tagine last night I made couscous with red pepper, almonds, Italian parsley and preserved lemons. For about 3-4 side servings:

1 large red pepper, julienned
1/4 C toasted sliced almonds
1 small preserved lemon, sliced thin then in half
1/2 C Italian flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon zest for garnish

Sauté red pepper in a small amount of olive oil until soft. Add 1 cup chicken broth and bring to a boil. To keep the couscous moist, add 1 small pat of butter or a quick drizzle of olive oil to the stock. Add almonds, preserved lemons, couscous and stir. Turn off heat and cover for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, tossing in parsley. Garnish with fresh lemon zest.

Janet Is Hungry has a lovely fresh recipe for Couscous Salad with feta. Yum! (I hope she got her dishwasher fixed!)

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