cinnamon chicken with couscous and dried fruit

B thinks it "tastes like Thanksgiving." I think that's because it has the bird, the fruit, the spices. We were a little short on couscous when I made this, but I otherwise actually followed the recipe. Seriously. I did.

Serves: 4
How long did it take? It seemed pretty reasonable, but I didn't time it.

4 whole chicken legs (about 3 pounds), cut into leg and thigh pieces
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1 teaspoon ground ginger, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup mixed chopped dried fruit (such as currants, apricots, and prunes)
1 14-ounce can low-salt chicken broth
1 cup couscous
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint, divided

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. Heat oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces, skin side down, and cook until skin is brown, about 8 minutes. Turn chicken and transfer skillet to oven. Roast chicken until thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 175°F, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; tent with foil.

Add onion to drippings in same skillet; sauté onion over medium-high heat until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add dried fruit and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ginger; stir to coat. Add broth; bring to boil. Remove skillet from heat, stir in couscous and 1 teaspoon mint. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Season couscous to taste with salt and pepper.

Make bed of couscous for the chicken on a platter or individual bowls. Sprinkle with the remaining mint.

This recipe is lifted almost verbatim from epicurious.com. It originally appeared in Bon Appétit in December 2005. (Since so often I only loosely follow the recipes, I don't usually have attribution/copyright issues. Well, they can use my photo if they want.)

tuna rolls

This is a full-on cheat. We made these for our Christmas day picnic, and I'm simplifying it even further by suggesting the use of tapenade to save you chopping olives yourself. This could be modified in any number of ways with equal success, I expect. I was inspired by a combination of empanadas and a recipe for chicken crescent rolls that my mother used to make (and I always loved!).


Tuna Rolls

1 can tuna
~1 c. tapenade (heavy on the green olives) OR 1/2 c green olives with pimentos, chopped, and 4 T capers and 1/2 c. onions (cooked with olive oil until soft)
fresh ground pepper
Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 beaten egg (optional)

Preheat oven to the temperature recommended on the crescent roll package (depends slightly on the variety). Open and drain the tuna. Flake into mixing bowl. Mix with tapenade and sprinkle generously with pepper. (Salt if you wish -- it depends on how salty your other ingredients are.) Unroll crescent roll triangles (one at a time) and spread or roll so that they are a bit thinner and wider -- as much as you can without jeopardizing their integrity. Plop a big spoonful of filling onto the dough triangle then wrap it up, being sure to pinch or smooth securely. Put on ungreased cookie sheet. Baste with egg for a little better-looking pastry, but this isn't really essential. Cook about 10-13 minutes or until golden brown.