Roasted chicken with lemon, garlic and Moroccan spice blend

On Sunday we visited the wondrous flavors of Morocco. Our fourth installment of the ‘cuisines of the world potluck’ was successful. Anytime the attendees take the time to research and prepare a dish they’ve never done before or ever heard of, I call it a success. I think it’s hard for home cooks to venture beyond the routine. When you love food, you will take the time to taste and explore new cuisines, but when it comes to cooking them, a fear arises. Maybe ‘fear’ is a strong word. I mean to suggest that most folks who cook are reluctant to try a new cuisine because they could mess it up. Everyone who cooks eventually tries something new. And I know for a fact, that everyone who cooks messes up a meal. Everybody. And so, if these fellow cooks are willing to try something different I think instant credit is offered.

Of course, if the food sucks than maybe the cook will lose interest in attempting the dish again. Lucky for us this past Sunday, no one failed and everyone benefited from each other’s leap of faith.

To celebrate the evening, I prepared a roasted chicken with Moroccan spices. The highlight of the dish (for me) was making a spice blend called ras el hanout. More complex than garam masala or other “exotic” flavors on my palate, this concoction included over a dozen spices. To prepare this spice blend, you mix the following spices:

• cardamom
• fennel
• anise
• allspice berries
• cloves
• peppercorns
• cinnamon
• sesame seeds
• coriander
• cumin
• red pepper flakes
• mace
• ginger
• nutmeg

Once blended, this amazing spice mixture can be added to lamb, chicken, beef and tofu. For the dish I made that night, the blend was rubbed inside and outside the bird. The cavity was stuffed with some garlic cloves and a whole lemon. The result was met-in-your mouth delicious. And it so happen that the bird was just the right size to feed all of us at the table. My wife also made some white rice as a side to carry any extra juice or flavor to our salivating mouths.

One of the guests brought another side dish with eggplant, red onion and other spices (unknown to me.) I’m sorry the picture didn’t turn out too well, for this was a delicious counter-part to the chicken and the picture serves no justice.

What's in it? Who cares! It's delicious.

To go with the eggplant, chicken and rice, another guest brought some homemade hummus (no picture.) Mixing together the eggplant, rice and hummus proved to be a meal of its own. I ate at least two portions of the combination and ultimately, ate myself a bit sick. But sick in a good way of course.

For dessert we had two options. One of the guests made some safrou apricot. These cookies were filled with almonds, walnuts, apricots, dates and some cinnamon too. I would say the flavor was akin to biscotti with the noticeable cinnamon flavor to the after bite.

Apricots, dates, walnuts, oh my!

To contrast the cookies and their airy, fluffy texture, I made a coconut cake. (Again no picture. Sorry.) Thought this proved to be no cake. If anything the dessert was supposed to resemble fudge, so thick and chewy. Maybe it was the lack of a candy thermometer and I didn’t cook it to the desired 238 degrees. The result was more of a lemon-coconut pudding with a strong sugary bite to it.

Because of the high sugar content and the gooey, dropping texture, I served the “cake” on a spoon, so that everyone could slurp at their own pace. Funny enough, it was excellent with the white rice as the rice gave the oozing cake some texture to chew. All of a sudden, my coconut cake became a lemon-coconut rice pudding. Though considering its taste, I can’t say it was bad or anything.

Overall, it was a great evening. I have yet to feel the need to ask hosts to request certain courses. As luck would have it, we’ve always had a sweet to match the savory. Now with the holiday season approaching, we can await the next potluck in the new year. Oh, I’m always so excited for the next cuisine of the world dinner!

Related posts:

1. Cuisines of the World potluck – Vietnam
2. Asian Madness (weekly menu 9)
3. Cuisines of the World Potluck – Portugal
4. Cuisines of the World Potluck – Denmark
5. Home Cooking

Tags: "ethnic food", Chicken, dessert