Moroccan Chicken

With the garden, whatever is needing harvested seems to be what we have for every meal.  First, it was potatoes.  We had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It was fairly easy because there are a zillion ways to fix potatoes.  Then it was yellow squash.  I love squash . . more than Vince does . . but we made it through the few weeks of having squash every day.  The yellow squash plants have died back so we’re done harvesting squash.  Now, it’s eggplant.  Vince loves eggplant more than I love eggplant.  I’ve made parmigiana for the freezer and also have the caponata in the freezer.  Yesterday I fixed a new recipe and it was delicious.  We love recipes that have lots of flavor and this one definitely has a unique (to us) mix of flavors.  We’re having leftovers for lunch and I can hardly wait.

I started with this recipe but made some changes.  Everything was done in one pan on top of the stove.  A good bit of prep work early in the afternoon made this recipe one that went together really quickly before dinner.  I had all the spices needed but if you don’t already have them, this could probably get a bit expensive to make but . . if you like it and want to make it all again, you’d have it all and not have to buy them again.

Ingredients:

Olive oil – at least 1/4 cup, but more as needed
3 cups onion, sliced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1-1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon salt  (more salt needed for salting the eggplant slices before draining them)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cups diced tomatoes (if using canned, drain most of the liquid)
1 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 whole, boneless skinless chicken breasts (or 4 halves)
2 large eggplants, peeled and sliced about 1/2″ thick
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Fresh cilantro, chopped

NOTE:  Before cooking eggplant, I salt the slices on both sides and let it drain in a colander for at least 15 minutes.  Then I rinse it well and pat it dry with paper towels.

Directions:

1. Before adding any oil to a big non-stick type skillet, toast the almonds.  Remove the almonds to a bowl til serving time.
2. Add a few tablespoons olive oil to the skillet and brown the eggplant slices on both sides.  Remove to paper towels to drain excess oil.  Add more oil as needed.
3. Mix all the dry spices together in a bowl.
4. Thinly slice the chicken breasts and sprinkle about half the spices over the chicken.
5. Add a few more tablespoons oil to the skillet and brown the chicken.  Cook it til it’s cooked completely.  Remove the chicken — no need to drain on paper towels.  There isn’t that much oil and you don’t want to lose your spices.
6. Add a few more tablespoons oil to the skillet and saute the onions and garlic.  Cook til the onions are almost caramelized.  Add the remaining half of the spice mixture to the onions.
7. Add the tomatoes to the onion mixture and cook until they are beginning to break down.  Add the water and lemon juice to continue making a “sauce”.
8. Add the chicken and eggplant to the onion mixture in the skillet.
9. Continue cooking for just a few minutes til everything is heated thoroughly.
10. Serve over rice or couscous.  Top with toasted almonds and cilantro.

We had ours over this grain mixture.

Here’s the ingredient list:

It’s something I found on one of our shopping expeditions to T. J. Maxx . . hope I can find more if it.  It was interesting to serve with a meal such as this.  Looks like one of those things that short of ordering from Canada or happening upon in T. J. Maxx again, I may not be able to find it here.  I cooked it with vegetable broth and it was delicious!