Sunday 9 December 2012

1 Chicken, 3 meals for 2 hungry people: Tuesday

pomegranate tabouleh, sweet potato, chicken and hummus


Moroccan spiced chicken, Sweet potato, coriander and sesame yoghurt dressed salad with Pomegranate Tabouleh


Right, I have two apologies to make. Firstly I am sorry it took me so long to post this after Monday's chicken, and secondly I am sorry about the rather paltry (pun intended) third chicken meal. 


I would also apologise for the cultural inauthenticity of this meal but Moroccan and Lebanese food go really well together - probably something to do with the Arab Muslim conquest well over a thousand years ago. Since making this meal I have found out that there is a rather large proportion of Moroccan-Lebanese restaurants in London which I am now curious to try out. 

These recipes are entirely made up by me but somewhat inspired by... you guessed it... Ottolenghi... or at
least the sweet potato salad is. This experiment was particularly successful and made a delicious meal with some Lebanese deli-bought hummus and flat breads. 

The Moroccan spice mix I used on the chicken was given to me by my cousin who swears by it. It is the Bart 'Ras el Hanout', which they explain as 'moroccan style spice mix with rose petals.' It is absolutely delicious - surprising for a branded spice mix since I often find them to be underwhelming. It is certainly worth getting but is likely to only be in a big Waitrose so you can make do with your own cocktail if you don't want the hassle. It contains black pepper, coriander, ginger, paprika, allspice, cardamon, mace, nutmeg, tumeric, cayenne, cloves and a mere 1% rose petals. 


Recipes all serve 2

For the chicken
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Moroccan spice
4 crushed cloves of garlic

For the sweet potato salad
1 large sweet potato sliced into rounds 1.5cm thick
1/2 red onion thinly sliced into semi circles
Olive oil
1tspb Dried Chilli flakes
1 slice of lemon 1cm thick

Coriander oil
Small handful of coriander
1 chopped up garlic clove
2 tbspn olive oil

Yoghurt dressing
3/4 mug of yoghurt
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Marinate the half chicken for 15 minutes to a few hours in the lemon juice, olive oil, spices, salt and garlic. Preheat the oven to 220 or 200 fan.

Slice the sweet potato from the salad as well as the red onion.


Place along a baking dish in a layer, sprinkle with salt and chilli flakes. 


Pour 1 tablespoon of oil over and rub the salt, chilli and oil all over them.

Place the half chicken on top, pouring over any excess marinade.


Cook the chicken for 20 minutes.

Turn the oven down to 200 / 180 fan and cook for 30 minutes more.

Check if the chicken is done by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the thigh to see if the juices run clear.
Leave to rest for 10 minutes

While the chicken is cooking you should tackle the tabouleh (see below). This involves quite a bit of chopping so you  need to work quite quickly or ask for some help. Resist the urge to chop the herbs in a machine though since it really isn't the same.

Another thing
 to be done while the chicken is cooking is the rest of the sweet potato salad. First, the coriander oil - place all the ingredients in a small bowl of a whizzer / food processor.

Yoghurt dressing, mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

When the chicken is done place it on a carving board to rest. 

Now, carefully assemble your sweet potato on an attractive dish. Take your lemon slice and cut of the rind. Tear up into little pieces and sprinkle over the salad. Artfully place teaspoons of coriander oil and sesame yoghurt around the plate and then garnish with the picked coriander leaves.


Pomegranate Tabouleh
80g Parsley (weighed with stalks - bigger than your average supermarket pack)
15g Mint
2 tbsp lemon juice
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
60g  Bulgar wheat (Sainsburys don't seem to sell this but Waitrose does)
1 fat salad onion or 3 spring onions (white only)
1/2 - 3/4 pomegranate (to taste)

Make this while the chicken is cooking. Put the bulgar in a fine sieve and put under the cold tap until the water runs clear. Transfer to a small saucepan and cover with 300 ml cold water. Bring to the boil then put the lid on and simmer on a low heat for 10-15 minutes until cooked (should be soft but not soggy, nor with a crunch)

When cooked, pour into a sieve and rinse with cold water then leave to drain.

Deseed the pomegranate taking care that there are no white bits, and add to the bowl, along with any juices. Chop the spring onion super fine and add to the bowl.

Take a few stalks of parsley and pack them together tightly. Use a large, very sharp knife to trim off the end of the stalks, then chop the remaining stems and leaves very finely. Add to the bowl.

Pick the mint leaves, pack a few together tightly, chop as finely as the parsley and add to the bowl.

Add the bulgar wheat to the bowl and mix up very well with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning and then it is ready. (You can make this quite a while before if you have the time since the lemon juice keeps everything fresh.)





Once you have eaten, don't throw the chicken carcass away, add it to the stock you made with the last chicken half and simmer for two hours. Top up with water when necessary. Strain when done and leave to cool ready for the third chicken (broth) meal... 

Thursday's Thai noodle soup



I am not going to post this recipe because I was not sufficiently pleased with it. The broth was delicious but the rest was somewhat boring. For many inventive and delicious ways to use the broth, please refer to David Thompson's beautiful, bright pink, encyclopaedic book Thai Food. 

Alternatively you could use it in a gingery carrot or squash soup which can be great since the ginger is very subtle (I really don't like very strong ginger in soups). 

The main point of these '1 chicken posts' was to illustrate the life span of a chicken in my weekly meals. We also had some meat left over each time and made yummy wraps to take into work. If I get a whole chicken I will also pan fry the livers on toast as part of a light lunch for 1 or make an intensely flavoured gravy. 

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