Rediscovery - Morrocan chicken

Sometimes you haven't looked at a recipe book in a long time, and when you finally do, you rediscover many old dishes that have just been well, forgotten. And, they usually have faded. It's a good sign if it has food stains though - to me it usually means it's been tried and tried again. I try to add notes to recipes when I'm making stuff where possible. That way I don't have to rethink the whole thing, or try to remember what made it so good!

Last night I made this dish I haven't made in so long - a Moroccan chicken type dish that was my first savoury cooking using cinnamon. I think I found the recipe in an issue of Women's Health magazine. Of course, it was quite bland for my tastes at least so I chilli'd it somewhat, and I recall Food Critic Andrew and I having this quite regularly at our old place. I don't know why it fell off the radar. Well, it is quite carb heavy, (I used to mix cooked rice with it, THEN serve with crusty bread! Unheard of, nowadays with the new-ish healthy eating business.) Of course, if you wanted to make it carb-light - serve the rice separately, save the bread for your loved ones and add more vegetables, as I should have done last night.

Ahh, the weekend has gone far too quickly! I made a kick-ass Key lime pie and vanilla cupcakes though. Recipes to follow in the next few days, dear readers.


Moroccan Chicken Stew:

Ingredients:

500gm Chicken (I used breast, but thighs are fine)
1 large onion, cubed
1 large zucchini, cubed
1 stalk celery, cubed
200gm canned chickpeas
olive oil
salt and pepper
400g tin diced tomatoes
2 chicken stock cubes
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chilli
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Baby spinach leaves
1 cup cooked rice (optional)
Fresh Coriander/cilantro, chopped
Crusty bread rolls

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pan
2. Add chicken, salt and pepper, onion, zucchini and celery
3. When vegetables have browned, add chickpeas, tomatoes, stock cubes and spices. add more spices to taste
4. Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes until chickpeas are cooked through.
5. Mix rice through (optional step!) as well as baby spinach.
6. Garnish with coriander/cilantro and serve with crusty bread.

Coming soon: Key lime pie! Here's a photo I just took....It is amazingly good.