Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Moroccan Baked Chicken with Dried Apricots and Lemon



I made dinner for my girlfriends last Sunday, i needed something that will be fun and interactive and something that i was sure they would never have tried so i decided to go with this recipe that i found in last month's LCBO Food and Drink Magazine, that called for a Whole chicken.
Of course i edited it, lol, dont i always...........

I followed the main recipe to the T, the main difference was i tend to season my food a lot more, and i marinated my chicken the day before with the most amazing marinade ever. i let it sit in the marinade for 24 hours, before following the recipe in the magazine, and then i also added the juice of the marinade while cooking, so it gave it that extra deliciousness.

I find that most recipes call for just salt and black pepper( which coincidentally is not SPICY at all), i always use that and then include my own idea of good seasoning into whatever i cook.





After carving the chicken, i served it with Lemon and Coconut Jasmine Rice, id put a recipe for that here also.

Marinade
Ingredients
1/4 Olive oil
1/3 cup Red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp Onion powder
1 tbsp Garlic powder
1 tbsp Ginger powder
Salt
1 tsp of chili pepper
Chicken seasoning i usually use Knorr
Freshly sliced parsley
Dry Mustard



Mix all of this in a bowl and rub around chicken, use three fingers to lift the skin of the chicken from the breast carefully, and stuff the marinade in

Repeat the same for the back, then rub some marinade in the cavity,
Leave chicken in a bowl, cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, i did mine for almost 24hours, the longer the better.


Baked Moroccan Chicken with Dried Apricots and Lemon
Ingredients
Marinated Whole chicken
1/2 cup of Dried Apricots
Zest of 2 lemons
2 tbsp of Lemon juice
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
2 tsp Cumin powder
2 tsp Ground ginger
Salt
Seasoning
2 tsp Paprika
Chilli pepper as needed
1 tbsp of chopped garlic
1/2 cup of chicken stock
2 tbsp chopped Parsley
2tbsp of chopped Coriander

It is advisable to use a dutch oven make this, so that the chicken can cook with the heat retained, and use one that fits the chicken fairly tightly so that, the sauce can be very concentrated for more flavor.

Preheat Oven to 350deg F

Combine ginger, Chilli pepper, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric in a small bowl, and set aside.

Heat oil over medium high heat in an oven proof casserole or dutch oven that fits the chicken, and brown chicken skin, breast first, make sure it is browned properly so it gets a nice color on it.
Transfer to a plate, and drain any excess oil from the pot leaving only about 2 tbsp.

Stir in the onions and saute about 3 minutes, add the garlic and keep stirring for 2 more minutes, Put in the spice mixture from earlier and keep stirring until fragrant, it should start smelling like you are making some time of curry.

Add in lemon juice, stock, the marinade left from marinating the chicken, dried apricots and bring to a boil, return chicken to pot, cover and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and add lemon zest to sauce, then bake 10 minutes longer.

Take chicken out, and return sauce to a stove top on medium heat, stir in parsley and coriander, and bring to a boil until sauce reduces to a good consistency, make sure to taste for any additional season. You shouldn't need any, but checking is important, nothing as annoying as a bland sauce

Carve Chicken, and serve with coconut rice and sauce.


Lemon Coconut Rice(serves 4)
2 cups of Jasmine rice
2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups of chicken stock/ water
Salt
seasoning
3 Cinnamon sticks.

Put all ingredients in a pot and boil on medium heat until, rice is cooked, and fluffy. take out cinnamon sticks and serve.















1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Weldone alice, looks great!!!

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