I don’t know about you, but I get tired of the same recipes over and over again. With the July 4th festivities this past weekend, I was overcome with barbeque sauce, grilled…well….EVERYTHING and enough bean and tomato salads to last until November. I was ready for something different. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE grilled food. It’s easy and marinades add tons of flavor without adding lots of calories. But I also love my big, giant, 6-quart covered saute pan (a gift from my wonderful friends, Donna and Donnie Graves). I use it almost every day. You can cook an entire meal for 6 in this thing. Trouble is I need help lifting it to pour out the sauce I make! But I digress….
Like I was saying, I was searching for something really different from what I usually add to chicken. When that happens, I like to look to other cultures for inspiration. There was a recipe for a Moroccan dish in one of the gazillion cooking magazines I happen to read, but I didn’t like all the ingredients. I looked up a few others, took a little from here and a little from here and I got this. It’s incredibly tasty and I just love the combination of pistachio nuts and apricots. The addition of garbanzo beans make it hearty and fiber-friendly, too. It’s not however, a dish I’d make for kids. They’re always wary of “weird” spices and food. It’s only when they get -like over 35-that they appreciate foods that are out of the ordinary. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating and I don’t have kids, but I remember how my brother Todd never ate anything but hamburgers and fried shrimp until he graduated college.
Here you go…
Moroccan Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 shallots, minced
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 can garbanzo beans, preferably low sodium-rinsed
- ¾ C dried apricots, well chopped
- 1/2C pistachio nuts, chopped
- 1/4C fresh cilantro, minced
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper. On a flat surface, lay out chicken breasts close together. Sprinkle half of the spice mix over the chicken.
- In a 4 or 5 quart nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat.
- Add the chicken, spiced side down and cook about 4 minutes.
- Sprinkle rest of spice mix on chicken and turn over. Cook another 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from the skillet and set aside on a plate.
- Add the shallots and lemon zest and stir for 1 minute.
- Add the broth and the wine.
- Stir and add chickpeas, apricots, nuts and cilantro.
- Stir .Cook 2 minutes. Add back chicken.
- Cover and let simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Serve.
