Slow-cooked Thursday: Moroccan Chicken with Couscous & Herb Pesto

I know, I need Food Styling Photography 101, don’t I?

When I think of Moroccan food, I usually get my neanderthal cavewoman on—”Me. Love. MOROCCAN FOOD”. There may be a bit of chest pounding involved. When I think Slow Cooker, I get my Homer Simpson on and think, “Hey, I can just sit on my arse for the next 5 hours while something else cooks for me.”

Moroccan food is the BOMB—earthy, hearty and full of all the sh*t I love to eat. This recipe looks like there are lots of ingredients but it’s actually really simple to make.

For the Moroccan Chicken casserole (serves 4):

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg skinless chicken thighs (For the love of a crockpot, don’t use chicken breasts—they don’t mix well with slow cookers).
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tin crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sweet wine (muscat, port etc.)
• 1 cup roughly chopped spinach
• 1 tin chickpeas (optional)
• 2 tbsp flaked toasted almonds (optional)

Method:

1. Brown chicken with a tablespoon of oil. Place chicken in slow cooker.
2. Using the same pan, cook the onion until soft. Add garlic, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, cardamom and turmeric. Cook for 1–2 minutes until fragrant.
3. Add the tin of diced tomatoes. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the stock and bring to a boil.
5. Poor tomato spice mixture over chicken and cook for 3 hours on high.
6. Add the honey, orange juice, lemon juice, wine and spinach (and chickpeas if you are using them) and return to heat for another 30 minutes.
7. Serve with toasted flaked almonds and couscous (recipe below).

For the Couscous Herb Pesto

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry Couscous
• 1 tbsp fresh mint
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 1/2 clove garlic
• Few grinds of salt (to taste)
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Make up couscous according to packet.
2. In a mortar and pestle (or small food processor) grind mint, coriander, pine nuts and garlic until you have a chunky paste.
3. Add oil and mix. Salt to taste.
4. Add pesto mix to the couscous and mix thoroughly.

Try it and tell me what you think!

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