Moroccan-Spiced Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

 (serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized aubergine/eggplant
2 courgettes/zucchini
1 large red onion
half a butternut squash, peeled and deseeded   [I used dala’at, which comes in large unpeeled, but deseeded chunks here in Israel]      [I think I’d like to include 1/2 each of a red and yellow pepper next time]
olive oil

2 whole chickens

FOR THE MOROCCAN SPICE MIX:
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
a pinch ground cloves
1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Chop all the vegetables into bite-sized chunks and place in a bowl.  Add a teaspoon or two of olive oil and 2-3 tablespoons of the Moroccan spice mix, depending on how spicy you want your vegetables.  Using your hands, toss the vegetables in the oil and spices until they are thoroughly coated.

Turn the vegetables out onto a foil-lined roasting tray and plae in the centre of the oven.  Roast for about 30 minutes, or until the butternut squash chunks are tender.

At this point, I would preheat the oven to 500 degrees F, 250 C.

I still had about 1/3 of the spice mix left over, which I supplemented with about 2 teaspoons of curry (check out the ingredients of curry and you’ll find a lot of the above).  What I would do next time, I think, is to double the original spice mix recipe, but the curry worked out splendidly.

I rubbed the spice mix all over the chickens, both inside and out, put into a roasting pan, and into the preheated oven, waited 22 minutes or so, and turned off the oven for another 20 minutes.

When ready to warm up my food for Shabbos, (which in my case was immediately) I just tipped the vegetables into the pan with the chickens and set the oven at a warm setting–ours can be set from 80-100C, on a timer, so it came out just perfect, and the veggies benefited from the delicious gravy of the chicken, as well.

– See more at: http://www.cooksister.com/2010/01/moroccanspiced-roasted-vegetables.html#sthash.BGmgAZu1.dpuf

Leave a Reply