Moroccan Than Not

Despite the dazzling array of ethnic eateries Atlanta has to offer, I’ve yet to find a spot for authentic Moroccan food (if any ATL readers know of one, I’d love the tip). Called the “culinary star of North Africa,” Morocco had the good fortune of being smack dab in the middle of the spice route, which left the country’s palate with plenty of Mediterranean and Asian influence, not to mention the “flavors” that remained after France and Spain finished jockeying for control of the country in the 20th century.

Unlike some other African cuisines that are more beef and lamb-leaning, I’ve found dozens of Moroccan recipes that star chicken and feature many of my favorite spices and ingredients—how can you go wrong combining ginger, cinnamon, and cumin with things like couscous, dried fruit, pistachios, lemon and pine nuts? Which leads me to…

My surplus of pine nuts. After discovering that they’re a ridiculous bargain at the DeKalb Farmer’s Market, I bought a big ol’ sack and got to work on some pesto. Mucho pesto consumption later, the pine nuts were still hanging around, so I decided to find a new recipe for them. A skim of one of my slow-cooker cookbooks led to the discovery of a Moroccan chicken stew. I made a few modifications to accommodate my tastes (and the contents of my pantry), so feel free to play around with this one yourself. Perhaps you can inject your own [insert country of your heritage] influence into modern Moroccan cuisine.

Moroccan Chicken Stew
Serves 2.

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1.5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken pieces (breast halves, thighs or drumsticks)
1/4 c. dried cranberries*
1/3 c. dried apricots, coarsely chopped
8 oz. chicken broth
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
pine nuts, toasted (optional)
prepared couscous, for serving
fresh cilantro (optional)*

Add carrots and onions to the slow cooker. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to cooker. Sprinkle in the cranberries and apricots. In bowl, whisk together the broth, tomato paste, flour, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, ginger and cinnamon. Pour over the chicken and veggies. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6.5 to 7 hours or high-heat setting for 3.5 to 4 hours. Prepare couscous according to package directions. In a large bowl, spread the couscous and top with stew. Sprinkle pine nuts over the stew and garnish with cilantro.

*Side bar 1- The original recipe called for raisins, but I don’t care for raisins, so I used cranberries—delish.
*Side bar 2- I didn’t have any cilantro on hand, so I used some fresh flat-leaf parsley and it worked just fine.