River Tavern Blog

This will be the first of many exciting posts coming from behind the scenes of The River Tavern Kitchen! I have many exciting things planned. I will be doing a recipe of the month from our own menu and from my personal recipe collection. Hopefully I will even be doing some video posts of instructional videos of how to prepare certain dishes, tips and tricks from a professional kitchen, some video tours of some of the amazing area farms that I use, and maybe I'll even take you into the kitchen on a busy night during dinner service so you can get the feel of what it is like to be "behind the line" right in the "heat" of battle, so to speak.

So for now I am going to start off with a simple, yet very tasty recipe of our Chicken Tagine with Moroccan Couscous.

Here are the ingredients:

For the chicken: 2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless Flour - as needed 1 C Chicken stock 2 Tbs paprika 2 Tbs ground ginger 1/4 C yellow onion, small diced 1 Tbs minced garlic 2 Tbs oil 1 Tbs chopped parsley 1 Tbs chopped cilantro

For the couscous: 1 C couscous Hot water, as needed 1/4 C sliced almonds, toasted 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

For the garnish: 1/4 C green olives, rough chop (I like picholine if you can find them) 2 T preserved lemon, fine julienne (if you don't have preserved lemons on hand, use lemon zest) 1 T chopped parsley 1 T extra virgin olive oil

Start with the Couscous: Soak the couscous in enough hot water to cover for 5 minutes. The couscous will soak up the water immediately Transfer the soaked couscous to a fine mesh strainer. The traditional method calls for using a couscousier, which is a fine mesh cone used exclusively for steaming couscous. Since most home cook probably do not own one of these (as I still have not yet aquired one), a fine mesh strainer or even a colander with some cheesecloth on a loosely woven towel in the bottom of it will work just as good. You need something to let the steam pass through to the couscous without letting the couscous fall through. Place the strainer over a pot with about 2 inches of water in it. Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil. Steam for about 15 minutes or until the couscous is fully cooked. Take out of strainer, place into a bowl, add the toaste almonds and the olive oil, toss, and keep warm.

While the couscous is steaming, start the chicken: Season the chicken with salt and pepper. coat with the flour. Heat a skillet over high heat Add 2 T oil Place chicken in skillet and sear on one side until nicely browned. Turn chicken over and turn down the flame to medium. Add onions, garlic, paprika, ginger, and chicken stock.

Method 1: Cook covered for about 15 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees. While the chicken is cooking, make sure the chicken stock doesn't all evaporate from the pan. Add more stock or a little water if you need to.

Method 2: If you are lucky enough to own a tagine then simply place the couscous in the bottom of the tagine, top with the seared chicken, onions, and sauce and bake in 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

For the garnish: Mix the chopped olives, preserved lemon (or lemon zest), parsley, and olive oil together in a bowl.

To finish: Place couscous in the middle of a large serving bowl. Place the chicken on top of the couscous. Add the parsley & cilantro to the sauce still in the pan. Taste it and add salt and black pepper if it needs some. Spoon the finished sauce over the chicken and the couscous. The great thing about couscous is it soaks up all that wonderful sauce! Garnish with the olive-lemon mixture. Serve with some warm pitas on the side.