this moroccan recipe is ideal for a sunday lunch with the whole family. it is very consistent and delicious, with african flavors. harissa is a mixture of spices used throughout north africa, based on hot pepper. it is very spicy, forms a perfect “spicy" crust on the chicken, but you can add it also to cous-cous to complete the specific moroccan flavor.
the recipe is very easy to prepare and gives you more free time (as the chicken bakes in the oven) to take care of other tasks or simply to stay with family and friends there, waiting for the main course.
firstly we prepare the cous-cous with raisins, spinach and pinoli. if you do not have them all, use only raisin or even simple cous-cous. we will use cous-cous both as filler and as a garnish.
ingredients:
-200 grams spinach
-100 grams raisins
-1 tablespoon of oil
-1 tablespoon of butter
-2 cloves of garlic
-1 handful of pinoli
-salt
-pepper
- 250 gr uncooked cous-cous
melt the butter with oil.
fry in the pan garlic with sliced pinoli. then add soaked raisins, drained and floured and mix well. finally, add spinach and stir. put salt, pepper and let the sauce boil down. allow the composition to cool slightly.
meanwhile, prepare the cous-cous. place in a bowl and cover with hot water (as directed on package). it's ready in 5 minutes.
now we have everything ready to fill the moroccan chicken.
coat the chicken inside and outside with harissa. sprinkle salt and pepper.
mix the spinach mixture with the cous-cous.
fill the chicken with some of this mixture. keep the rest as a garnish.
it looks like this before you put in the oven:
sprinkle again with salt. cover the pan with foil and let it in the oven at 180 degrees for an hour.
after an hour, it looks like this:
if you want a more colorful crust, sprinkle it with some tomato sauce dissolved in water (to be a thicker sauce).
put the chicken in the oven, this time without foil. spray at every 10 minutes until browned and well done.
in the last 10 minutes, add the cous-cous that is left in the pan (enough to heat up and take some of the flavors).
if you have a big chicken, prolong the baking time to 90-100 minutes. i had a small chicken of 800 gr.
browning time is approx. 30 minutes.
when ready, put the tray directly on the table.
portion it.
and it ends very quickly :))
enjoy your meal!