Sasha's Kitchen: Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon Lime Cous Cous

I haven't been cooking and baking new recipes as much lately, although I plan to do some new recipes coming up from a vietnamese cookbook I bought. In addition, my husband and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary this coming weekend so in addition to a nice meal out, I plan on baking some celebratory petit fours. Petit fours are a pretty complex baking recipe so I am hoping I can get a good result on the first time, since it is something I have wanted to try for awhile as they are both lovely to look at, and delicious. On Monday, over the long labor day weekend, I made a new recipe from Sarah Raven's cookbook, Fresh From the Garden, one of my favorite cookbooks for good seasonal recipes.  I made her recipe for Moroccan Chicken Tagine, and also her simple recipe for lemon lime couscous. The two dishes were delicious and complemented each other quite nicely. I loved the zing of the tangy couscous with the sweetness of the chicken dish with the candied apricots.


Chicken Tagine with Almonds and Apricots (from Sarah Raven)
3 1/2 lbs free range chicken, cut up (I used an organic, antibiotic free chicken, of course)
1-2 T olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
pinch of saffron threads
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp hot paprika
apple juice
1/2 pound dried apricots, chopped
1/2 pounds almonds
mint, chopped
cilantro or parsley, chopped

In a Dutch Oven (I used one of my beloved Le Creuset pots), brown the chicken lightly on all sides for a few minutes in the olive oil. Remove the chicken from the pot and sauté the onion and garlic for three to four minutes. Add the saffron, paprika, cumin, cinnamon and ginger. Return the chicken to the pot and add just enough apple juice to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Add the apricots and almonds, and cook covered for another fifteen minutes until the chicken is tender.  When read to eat, add the mint and cilantro to the dish and serve.


Lemon and Lime Cous Cous (adapted from Sarah Raven)
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 3/4 cup cous cous
2 T olive oil
juice of one lemon
juice of one lime
salt and pepper
mint
parsley

Bring the stock and the couscous to a boil, then allow to simmer until cooked. Stir in the lemon and lime juice and cover for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and with the mint and parsley if you like.  Since I put mint and cilantro in the main dish, I simply seasoned with salt and pepper.

Sasha's Kitchen: Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon Lime Cous Cous

Sasha's Kitchen: Asian-Style Scallion Cilantro Pancakes

My mom recently sent me a wonderful new cookbook, but a women whose gardening books she had read, Sarah Raven, called Fresh From the Garden. The book focuses on fresh uses of seasonal, garden fresh ingredients and their uses in delicious seasonal recipes. So far, I have read the recipes for spring and winter and there's so many I want to try. The scallion/cilantro pancakes and rhubarb cardamom chutney were both delicious, and my husband and mom (cooking together for me) also tried a summer vegetable risotto that was a loose variation on the recipe in her book. Each of these three recipes were spectacular. This might just be my favorite new cookbook that I have tried in a long time! Don't skip out on Sarah's dipping sauce either - its the perfect match as I love sesame oil!

Scallion Cilantro Pancakes (from Sarah Raven)
makes 12 five inch pancakes or six eight inch pancakes - I doubled the recipe below for more because they were so good!

1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 small red chile, thinly sliced (i used 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes instead)
pinch of ground black pepper
4 drops of sesame oil
canola oil for frying
5-6 scallions diced (green parts only)
small bunch of cilantro, freshly chopped

Dipping sauce
3 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 T freshly chopped fresh cilantro

Put the flours, salt, egg and egg yolk and 1/4 cup of water, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil in a bowl and whisk together.  Allow to stand for thirty minutes at room temperature. Chop the scallions and cilantro and set aside.

combine the soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil for the sauce and stir in the sesame seeds. Also add the reserved white parts of the scallions left over from the pancake recipe.

Heat a teaspoon of canola oil in an eight inch nonstick pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Spoon in 1/2 T of the batter, tilting the pan to spread it over the bottom. Scatter the scallions and cilantro over the top, gently pressing them with a spatula. Fry until the underside is pale golden, about two minutes. Turn over and cook another minute or so. Transfer to a piece of parchment paper while you prepare the other pancakes. Serve right away with dipping sauce.

Sasha's Kitchen: Asian-Style Scallion Cilantro Pancakes