Braised chicken with Dates & Moroccan spices

December 12, 2010

Wow! It’s been more than 2 weeks since I’ve posted a recipe. What have I been eating?? I made a shrimp stir-fry the other day. There isn’t a recipe since I used Fry’s already made stir-fry veggies and added frozen shrimp, then sauced it up a bit. When I made the Puerto Vallarta red snapper (tilapia), I steamed some salmon. I had that on salads a couple of times. I made some pasta (rice) and topped with marinara and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I need to actually read the recipes before I choose them for the week. Several things I’ve selected lately require marinating over-night which I didn’t seem to notice. So, I’ve been winging it. That is exactly what this project was supposed to prevent.

Add to that… I was shopping at Fry’s and they were having a sale—buy one, get one free on chicken, whole and parts. I needed chicken thighs for this recipe, but ended up buying two whole chickens and two packages of chicken thighs. It looks like I’ll be eating a lot more chicken and less of anything else for awhile.

The whole plan of weekly menus has been tossed for this week at least. We’ll see what I come up with.

Braised Chicken with Dates and Moroccan Spices, from Epicurious.

This takes awhile to make, so don’t start hungry!

3 ½ pounds chicken parts (breasts, thighs, legs)
1 T flour (use non-gluten)
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds shallots (about 11), slivered
3 cinnamon sticks
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp tumeric
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 T fresh lemon juice, divided
12 dates, pitted & halved
¼ cup almonds, toasted & coarsely chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro

Sprinkle chicken with flour, salt & pepper. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken (in batches if needed). Pour of the fat, leaving 2 T. Reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots. Sauté until golden, about 6 minutes. Add cinnamon sticks, ginger, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Increase heat to high and add broth and lemon juice. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until shallots begin to soften, about 18 minutes. Place chicken pieces on top of the shallots. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to medium-low, cover and simmer until done, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the chicken and shallots to a platter, tent with foil. Boil the juices in the pot until slightly thickened. Stir in the dates and remaining 2 T lemon juice. Simmer until dates are heated through (do not cook to long or the dates get mushy). Pour the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with almonds and cilantro.

How mine turned out: The sauce didn’t thicken well, maybe because of the non-gluten flour I used. I over-cooked the dates, add them at the end just to warm.

It turns out my cilantro was Italian Parsley. I thought it tasted whimpy.

I served it over millet.

Later, I shredded the chicken, and combined the milled and the chicken & sauce to make a casserole-type dish.

I’m not sure I’m going to make this again. It took a long time and wasn’t fabulous. Good, but not fabulous.