This is my first blog entry!  Woohoo!  My parents bought a house in Florida (close to Sarasota) a few years back and plan to retire there.  In the meantime, they take trips down to Florida from time to time to check up on the house.  This time they decided to drive down from New Jersey and since I just moved back to my parents house and have some free time I thought, ‘why not take the trip down with them?’  Also, one of my cousins just had massive surgery a month ago and is now staying with her parents in Orlando while she recovers.  So I thought this would be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with her, too.  After spending a few days at my parents’ Florida home, I came up to Orlando to spend time with my cousin, Swati, on Sunday night.  She’s doing very well – and I am so happy to see how well she is doing despite what she went through.  I always have such a great time with her – she’s 6 years younger to me but she is always so wise beyond her years that I feel like I am talking to someone my age – or even older than me!  One of the things I love about her is the fact that she is a big foodie just like me and eats anything and everything.  Wherever we go she has her fork ready to try something new!  She has her own blog about food called Global Glutton – you should check it out at: http://globalgluttononline.blogspot.com/

toast for Swatireading...

Swati was doing well enough this week to try out new recipes and cook a few dishes for her parents (my aunt and uncle) when they got back home from work.   On Monday we looked in the fridge to see what we could make with what we had.  We had chicken……saw some vegetables like bell peppers, zucchini, etc.  We were thinking, and thinking, and thinking of what interesting dish we could make.  And then it hit me like a lightening bolt.   ahhhhhhh…..ha!  Morrocan chicken!  I then asked Swati if we had couscous in the house to which she replied, “Yes! And we can use the vegetables to make grilled vegetable couscous!”.  And there you have it – our first meal in the house while I am visiting was decided – Morrocan it is!  Now all we need is a belly dancer and we’re all set!

So the race was on to get this dinner together by the time my aunt and uncle came home.  We decided to make M’galli Chicken Tagine and Grilled Vegetable Couscous.  First we needed to go to the grocery store to buy a few ingredients.  We went to the Fresh Market in Windermere, Florida and bought a variety of olives from the olive bar as well as lemons, and a few medium sized onions. 

After we came home my cousin worked on the chicken dish while I worked on the Couscous. 

Here are the recipes for both dishes:

M’galli Chicken Tagine:

3 small skinless/boneless thighs

1/2 small cup cooking oil

1/2 small cup olive oil

9 cloves garlic

6 medium-sized onions

3 tablesspoons salt

pinch of saffron powder

1/8 pound of variety of pickled olives

1 pickled lemon – see below for recipe

1 tablespoon vinegar

1. Wash chicken thighs and rub with lemon, garlic, salt, saffron, and pickled lemon.

2. Place cooking oil and olive oil in a pan and sautee the chicken thighs on each side for 10 minutes.

3. Add the diced onions and fry for 5 minutes.

4. Cover with water and simmer for 90 minutes. 

5. Remove chicken once it is cooked and place on a plate.  Sprinkle with the sauce and decorate with olives.  Garnish with fried parsley.

Pickled Lemon recipe

Ingredients – to make one jar of lemons

5-6 Lemons – to fit a large clear jar

½ kg salt

1 Cinnamon stick

3 Bay leaves

¼ cup olive oil

Spring water – to fill the jar

1. Wash the lemons and cut them into quarters from the pointed end up to within 2cm of the stalk end. Gently open them without breaking them apart, remove any visible pips, pack them with salt and then press them back into shape.

2. Put 1 tablespoon salt into the large sterilized clear jar.

3. Put in the lemons and press them down, adding more salt and spices between the layers. Push the lemons down firmly to release some of the juice and to make room for the other lemons. Fill the jar up with spring water, leaving enough space for the olive oil.

4. Cover the top with oil and seal the jar. The oil is to seal and protect the lemons from contact with the air.

5. Leave the lemons in a cool dry and dark place for 4-6 weeks before using.

Grilled Vegetable Couscous:

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Zucchini

1 medium red onion

Olive oil

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

pinch of cinnamon powder

1 1/2 cup couscous

2 3/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon butter

Grilled Vegetables:

1. Cut vegetables into long pieces. 

2. Rub olive oil to each piece of vegetable using basting brush and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cinnamon powder

3. Grill vegetable on grilling pan until golden brown.

4. Remove from pan

Couscous: 

1. In a saucepan, bring water to a boil.

2. Add salt and stir.

3. Add couscous and remove from heat and allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

4. Add grilled vegetables to couscous

My aunt and uncle came home and we prepared dinner and served with a glass of Shiraz.  Normally I would not think that a chicken dish with pickled lemon and olives would go well with red wine.  But surprisingly, the Shiraz complemented the chicken dish as well as the cinnamon flavor from the grilled vegetable couscous.  Shiraz tends to be lighter in nature which is why it actually worked with the chicken and couscous dishes.  Also, the pickled lemon was very flavorful in this chicken dish.  I learned that pickled lemons are very common in Moroccan cooking – very interesting because we make a similar pickled lemon in Indian cooking as well.  My cousin, Swati, made a fantastic chicken dish – I have to give her a special shout out for making this meal fantabulous.  The chicken was cooked to perfection – very tender.  I can still smell the saffron, tangy pickled lemon, and cinnamon spices 2 days later.  I learned from Swati that the trick to cooking tender chicken is to buy boneless/skinless thighs and to first pan sear the meat for 5 to 10 minutes to brown it on all sides, then braise with water or some form of liquid .  It just turned out amazing.   What a great start to spending quality time with my cuz!!

Here are some pictures of the dishes: