Chicken with Caramelized Shallots and Honey
By poisoneyes | September 4, 2008
Ingredients:
1 pound shallots or baby onions
1 onion, chopped
4 tablespoons sunflower oil
good pinch of saffron threads
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 chicken, cut up in 6 or 8 pieces
salt and black pepper
1 to 1/2 tablespoons clear honey
To garnish:
1/2 cup blanched almonds or a handful of sesame seeds (optional)
To peel the shallots or baby onions, blanch them in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and when cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and trim the root ends.
Methods:
Saute the chopped onion until softened in the oil over a medium heat in a pan or casserole large enough to hold the chicken pieces in one layer. Stir in the saffron, ginger, and cinnamon, then put in the chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper, and turn to brown them lightly all over.
Add about 1 cup water and cook, covered, over a low heat, turning the pieces over for 15 minutes, or until the chicken breasts are done. Lift out the breasts and put them to one side. Add the shallots or baby onions and continue to cook, covered, for about 25 minutes, or until the remaining chicken pieces are very tender. During the cooking, turn the chicken pieces and stir the onions occasionally; add a little water, if necessary.
Lift out the chicken pieces and set to one side. Stir the honey into the pan, check the seasoning. You need quite a bit of pepper to mitigate the sweetness. Cook, uncovered, until all the water has evaporated, and the onions are brown, caramelized, and so soft that you could crush them, as they say in Morocco, “with your tongue.”
Return the chicken pieces to the pan, spoon the onions on top of them, and heat through. A few minutes should be enough. Serve, if you wish, sprinkled either with blanched almonds fried in a drop of oil until they are lightly golden, or with toasted sesame seeds.
Moroccan Chicken and Parsley Salad
By poisoneyes | August 21, 2008
Serves 4
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock, heated to boiling
2 cups couscous
20g butter
300g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
3 spring onions, sliced thinly
2 medium tomatoes (380g), seeded, chopped finely
1 lebanese cucumber (130g), seeded, chopped finely
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon lemon juice,
400g chicken thigh fillets, skin off
1 tablespoon of peanut oil
2 tablespoons of sumac
1/3 cup (95g) low-fat yogurt
2 teaspoons pomegranate syrup
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon paprika
4 slices flat bread
Method
Combine the stock and couscous in a mixing bowl; cover and stand 5 minutes until the couscous has absorbed all the liquid.
Combine the couscous with the chickpeas, onion, tomato, cucumber and herbs; dress with lemon juice.
Coat the chicken in peanut oil and sumac; cook, in batches, on a pre heated grill plate (or barbecue) until browned both sides and cooked through as desired. (chicken may be put into a hot oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking through if needed.)
Stir together yoghurt, syrup, lemon rind, juice and paprika.
Serve dollops of yoghurt with warm chicken over the parsley salad, with toasted wedges of flat bread.
Moroccan Chicken
By poisoneyes | August 21, 2008
Ingredients:
1 boneless chicken breast per serve. Honey
Moroccan spice Vanilla Pod
Couscous Cream
Oranges Butter
Sweet Potato Capsicum (Red or Yellow)
Capsicum
Directions:
Marinate chicken in a little oil and Moroccan spice, leaving overnight. Soak couscous, segment oranges, dice capsicum add ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Parboil sweet potato and slice. Cool and brush with a little oil and char until grill marks apparent. Slice capsicum and do the same as the sweet potato.
Seal chicken and cook in a hot oven for 12-15 minutes depending on size.
Cut and scrape vanilla pod and add to cream, reduce and add honey a little at a time depending on sweetness and finish by whisking in a little butter.
To plate up, add one breast of chicken per serve, couscous can be served either hot or cold.
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