This recipe is very yummy and it has some of my favorite food items; lemon, cumin, chick peas, garlic and olives. Also, it requires a whole chicken or thighs and legs which are a great bargain. Skinless boneless chicken breast now is all the rage however, I am not sold. It’s more expensive, lacking in flavor and can be quite dry in texture. There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe but they are economical and pantry staples. I know what I like to cook and tend to use the same ingredients in many different ways to save space, waste and grocery bills. We are inundated with a steady supply of innovative recipes this exposure and stimulation is wonderful. Except for that you can easily get caught up and spend a small fortune on ingredients you’ll only use once or twice before their shelf life expires.
Serves 4
Ingredients
Chicken
3 1/2 – 4 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces or a mixture of drumsticks and thighs
1 15oz can chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1 60z can black pitted olives halved or sliced
1 cup plain flour
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cumin ground
2 small lemons cut into thin slices
1 medium onion sliced
3 large garlic cloves minced or 1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Rice
1 cup brown Jasmine or basmati rice (cooked according to package instructions)
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp light olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Cook rice according to package instructions using chicken stock in place of water and add olive oil to stock, season to taste.
Wash and pat dry chicken with paper towels. If using whole chicken cut into pieces, a helpful guide can be found at www.howstuffworks.com/how-to-cut-chicken-cooking1.htm . Remove chicken skin or leave it on depending on your preference. Season both sides of each chicken pieces with cumin, salt and pepper.
Place flour on plate and dredge chicken pieces shaking off excess flour. (I find using tongs works best.) Place chicken onto baking sheet covered with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray. Then spray tops of chicken with nonstick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until thermometer reads 165 degrees. If chicken has not turned brown and crispy flash under a hot broiler for about 5 minutes.
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to pan, heat pan over medium high heat. Once pan is hot, saute onions for 1 minute then add garlic saute further 2 minutes.
Deglaze pan with chicken stock and wine add 1/8 cup of olive juice from the can and let reduce to thicken sauce. For a thicker sauce you can add a tbsp of cornstarch slurry, to avoid lumps whisk while sauce thickens.
Add chickpeas, simmer a few minutes then add sliced lemons and fresh parsley at the end of cooking process to insure vibrant color, also keeping the lemons from turning bitter.
Serve completed sauce over chicken with brown rice, a little fresh lemon zest and a dash of paprika for color.
The recipe turned out great. For the most part I had all the ingredients on hand… The directions were easy to follow. I did modify it slightly, I had cooked chicken breasts and used those. Also, chicken broth in place of white wine and I did not have fresh parsley which would have been nice. We all enjoyed it and the leftovers disappeared quickly:) It had eye appeal as well as being very tasty. Thanks April.
Hey!. Your post Moroccan Baked Chicken with Brown Jasmine Rice is very interesting for me. My written English is not so good so I write in German: “Lieber den Spatz in der Hand, als die Taube auf dem Dach.” Yours sincerely Thursday Jasmine
We’re going to the capitol Thursday and I’m hoping to pick up some garbanzo beans and think I might actually be able to make this here in Palau … obviously modified a bit, but I am looking forward to trying it out!