Home Cooking Attempt: Moroccan Dish #1 With Spices Carried Home (by Mom) From Marakesh

Minus mom catching pneumonia in Morocco, it was an incredible trip and I LOVED the food.  I even lost five pounds.  (I’m sure they’re back, I’m just pretending we don’t have a scale, which is difficult when my husband has been in high manorexia mode leading up to his big 4-0 and announces his weight multiple times a day, like I care, my big fat crush on him means he’s all dreamy to me, all the time.  Pathetic and true and he thinks I’m nuts.).  Took my first baby step into Moroccan cooking last night!  Shall we?

Spices brought back from Morocco, now hidden in this magic tin so the aromas don't overwhelm our little house and make it smell like a very large food stall in the middle of Marakesh.   Lemon Curry, Cumin, Mix of Four spices (for fish or poultry), Ras el Hanout (35 spices) and saffron!  (that will be nice friend Mary’s Christmas present ... it’s ok, she already knows).

I looked up a few recipes online and consulted the Moroccan cookbook (for Brits) I brought home (I have to flip quickly to avoid ingredient lists that make me queasy – like hoof and spleen) and decided to throw together my own.(With Chicken! None of that scary stuff)

Sliced carrots the way they served them in Morocco.  Boiled for 8 minutes in 6 cups of water in favorite pot. Perfect!

Removed carrots + added organic to the carrot water some low sodium chicken broth mix to the carrot water.

Promptly forgot about pot as I was posing the carrots, parsley and spices for their glamour shots. (See:  Sorry fave pot!  Love you!)

(Sorry fave pot!  Love you!)

The parsley is (oddly) still going strong in the garden. Sent hubby out to grab some [instructions: "Honey, it looks like this, (I hold up leftovers from brunch that included a sprig of parsley), and is in the garden, closest to the dead tomato plants we haven’t pulled up yet].  Look at what a great job he did!

Swirl of olive oil in large pan, chopped one giant onion and threw in some stragglers from Thanksgiving.  Mmmm, gorgeous. Pinch of salt and pepper. Then the spices:  heaping teaspoon each:  paprika, cumin and ras el hanout. 

Then some (about 1 c) broth to onions and spices

 In goes the 2+ lbs chicken breast.  Cover, cook on low for 25 min, turning chicken once.

Chicken all cooked, threw carrots back in, and a few tablespoons of the parsley all chopped up and stirred it all in.

Delish!  I ate over brown rice, Mr. Manorexia fretted about the sugars in the onion and carrot, so he ate chicken and the juices and loved it.  

Cat stared at his (mostly full) bowl for 45 min waiting for the Moroccan chicken to appear.  It did not. Even after he reached out to touch the bowl just to double check.

Til the morrow, friends!