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

Homemade chocolate covered Paydays

Before I show the process of making homemade Payday candy bars, I have some bad news to share first. According to a recent article by Tom Laskawy, our brains react to junk food the same way it reacts to heroine. This is pretty shocking news. Most people know that sugar is tasty and others will playfully admit that it’s addictive. But this study uses experiments and variables and all the scientific fancy procedures to show the intense addictive nature of junk food. At one point in the study the rats were willing to receive electric shocks so long as the sugar was fed to them. The importance of the study will also take shape in the obesity debate. In so far as foods that lead to obesity are in fact addictive. Wow.

Now, I have to admit that I read the article after I made the candy bars. I decided some time ago that I wanted to make some treats to sell at the Last Thursday Arts Fair on Alberta Street here in Portland. I know it may seem ridiculously hypocritical to make junk food considering 1., I constantly advocate for healthy food and 2., junk food is now officially akin to heroine; but I am human and I do like sweets. I definitely prefer homemade ice cream or pudding, but the candy bars are a huge success among my friends and I think others will like them too.

As someone who is gluten-free , I must state that candy is often GF and significantly cheaper than traditional GF baked goods. Last year I found out I was GF and decided to make 100 Grand candy bars instead of cake or pie, and as you might expect, they were dearly loved by all the attendees. Today I will share a recipe I found online for homemade Paydays that are dipped in chocolate.

We begin with processed foods.

Processed foods beget processed foods.

The ingredients shown in this picture will make 3 different bars.

1. a Payday

2. a Payday dipped in chocolate

3. a Snickers

Not too surprisingly, the recipe is very simple and makes tons of bars. The biggest obstacle is eating the bars once you’ve seen what goes in them. I should add that I ate a couple of these and ate some of the “batter” and I do not feel great right now. So, warning #1, don’t eat along the way. Unlike cookies, these are pure sugar.

A large pot of sugar and corn syrup.

We begin with a pot on the stove, filled half with sugar and half corn syrup. If you don’t know this, corn syrup is the grandfather of diabetes and obesity. It is loved by all makers of processed foods. And I honestly dread having it in my household because it is so unhealthy. But damn, does it taste good!

Here I am doubling the recipe because half the bars will be dipped in chocolate and half will be plain. The normal recipe begins with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of corn syrup. Bring the pot to a boil. Once the boiling begins, remove the pot from heat and stir 1 cup of creamy peanut butter until its dissolved.

Peanut butter and sugar, yes please.

The consistency is smooth and thick but not sticking to the pan. You don’t actually caramelize the sugar; instead it dissolves in with the syrup making a very sweet concoction of goodness. Once the peanut butter is stirred in, you add 1 cup of salted peanuts and 6 cups of rice chex (the cereal.) Now the mix gets sticky and you have to stir everything around until the consistency looks good. The peanut buttery goodness should be equally distributed to all pieces of rice chex and peanuts.

This "batter" is super tasty (and highly addictive.)

At this point the regular recipe is pretty much over. The “batter” is sticky and must be moved to a 13×9 inch pan. You are supposed to butter the pan but I didn’t and it wasn’t so bad. The nice part about the processed ingredients is that you don’t have to refrigerate them to cool. You can just leave the pan and it will cool in 30 minutes, maybe less.

Pan o' Payday

Once the candy has rested and hardened you are good to go. If you want to dip the bars in chocolate, melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate in a pan over low heat. Once thoroughly melted, you can dip the bars in the chocolate. The recipe made a ton of bars and I did not have enough chocolate to go all the way around all of the bars. Having the bars partially covered still looks great and will definitely enhance the flavor and texture.

So that’s how you make Payday candy bars. The original recipe can be found here. To double the recipe and buy all the ingredients it cost $14.50, and there are still some leftover peanuts, sugar and rice chex. I suggest making this for a birthday or a house party. The bar is filled with sugary goodness and I think small pieces are a good idea.

Now, onto the Snickers bar!

Related posts:

1. Simple, healthy and delicious
2. Success!
3. Thank you Alex Roberts (or) Chocolate Pudding on a new level