Putting a little spice in your life: Moroccan chicken

In truth, ragazzi, Annalena has no idea if this dish is Moroccan.  It didn't say so, and Annalena is no expert on such things; however, the flavors do remind her of other dishes, as they combine sweet, warm spices with hot, metallic ones.  You'll see what she means.

Here is the story:  Annalena had a menu last week that was very heavy, in very rich foods.  So, she turned to one of her favorite  "not so bad" dishes: chicken.  And as you all know, given a choice between breasts and legs, Annalena will always cook and serve legs. ALWAYS.  And so too, with this dish.  In fact, while you could make this work with breasts, Annalena doubts it would be as good.

It's an easy dish to make, when you're trying to break out of the rut of your regular chicken dishes, although this could become one of your regulars, and then  you may need Annalena to come in and break that rut, and so on, and so on, and so forth.   But that's how it goes.    And see, Annalena was in fact trying to break out of her rut with chicken.  She scanned recipe after recipe:  breasts, breasts, breasts, breasts breasts.  Skinless, boneless thighs.  Breasts, breasts, breasts breasts breasts.

GEEZ.  When did people start deciding to make chicken NOT taste good?  Many of us spent years trying to get flavorful chicken again, and now that we have it:  no skin, no bones, all white meat.

Uh oh, she's started.    But when you see how easy this one is to make, you may become a leg man yourself (or a leg woman).

You might have to do some shopping for this.  Do so if you don't have these spices, or if you have them and they're not fresh.  You determine that by smelling them.  If they don't knock you over with their fragrance, then they're not fresh.  Period.  You are going to need chili powder.   These days, you can get chili powder in about a zillion different varieties and at different heat levels.  Get what you like.  Annalena mixes a sweet one with a very hot one.  Two teaspoons.    Then add half a teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander, and black pepper.  If you have the whole spices and  you want to grind them yourself, do so, but remember that the coriander berry is big, and soft, and not easy to grind in a home machine.  Now add a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon, and a teaspoon and a half of salt.   Stir this all together.   Smell.

It's gonna be good, isn't it?  Now what you do is add three tablespoons of vegetable oil to this, and you make a paste.    Turn up  your oven to 450.

Get four chicken legs.   Whole legs. Or four drumsticks and four thighs.  Or eight of one.  With the skin, and on the bone.  You CAN brush the paste on them, but it's really a whole lot more fun if you get your hands into it (your CLEAN hands), and rub it all over the pieces.  You should skimp at first, and then at the end, if you have extra, use it.

After you have the chicken covered with the spice rub paste, and you've washed your hands (always   after handling chicken... of any type.. Annalena's boys will understand),  get a really big frying pan, and put a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil in it.  Get it hot. REALLY hot.  You'll smell the heat (Annalena promises), or you'll see it ripple.  Put the chicken pieces in, skin side down, and sear for about 3 minutes.  Now turn them over, and another three.  Your kitchen will get overwhelmed with the wonderful smell, and then you will smell a toasting.  That is when it's time to move these into the oven, pan and all, for 25 minutes.

And you're done.. Almost.  If you like, move this chicken to a plate and off the heat, pour a half cup of water into the pan.  Stir things up, and maybe reduce it a little.  Pour that over the chicken.  NOW  you're done.

For those of you with larger broods,  you can double, or triple the recipe.  Just literally triple the ingredients.  Keep in mind that 3 teaspoons is a tablespoon for mesuring purposes, and half a tablespoon is a teaspoon and a half, in case you have an odd set of spoons.  If you double/triple this recipe, you will need to cook things in batches, which is fine.  What you should do, is move the cooked chicken to a baking sheet, and move that into the oven.  When they're done, take the pieces off, put the drippings back into the frying pan, and make a sauce, just like above.

Not too difficult, huh?  Betcha the hardest thing  you do is go out and get coriander.  Keep it around for when you make pickles.

You DO make pickles don't you?


Coming up:  a wonderful tofu stir fry, a new coleslaw that may knock regular cabbage out of your salad bowl, and an idea for a "master recipe of veggies for this time of year.  Maybe all tomorrow.  One never knows, do one?