Recipe: Spiced Grilled Chicken

Recipe: Spiced Grilled Chicken

You’ve all heard the expression “Dollars to doughnuts.” But in my world the expression should be, “Doughnuts to Morocco.” Those versed in Moroccan cuisine might assume the connection comes from sfenj, the popular Moroccan street food that closely resembles the North American doughnut. You’d get a Brownie point for your knowledge, but you’d be wrong. That logic is far too straight-forward.

When Joanne and I made the hand-forged sour cream old-fashioned doughnuts, the conversation started with how much we missed cooking together and quickly bounced about like doughnuts frying in hot oil. We careened through brownie baking in our shoebox of a kitchen, rolled past knitting expeditions and landed hard on travel memories.

By the time the doughnuts were being packed up, we had made a pact to celebrate our 50th birthdays with the two of us taking a trip together. Like we had to Banff, Montreal, Cape Cod, England, Lisbon and New Zealand.

Sometime in 2013, we will take a trip together. Some place we’ve never been. Somewhere bright and lively and exotic, filled with smells and sights unlike those on Southern Ontario. Somewhere our husbands have no interest in going.

Morocco is high on the list. And I’ve been dreaming of tagines and sweet North African spicing ever since.

We’ve got more than a year to plan. Where would you go?

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Spiced Grilled Chicken
Djej Mechoui

Excerpt published with permission from The Food of Morocco: A Journey for Food Lovers. Recipes by Tess Mallos. Published by Whitecap.

  • 2 x 750 g (1 lb 10 oz) chickens
  • pinch of saffron threads
  • 1 tsp coarse salt
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1½ tsp paprika
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 lemons
  • 2 tbsp icing (confectioners’) sugar
  • watercress, picked over, to serve

To prepare the chickens, cut them on each side of the backbone using poultry shears or kitchen scissors. Rinse the chickens and dry with paper towels. Open out on a board, skin side up, and press down with the heel of your hand on the top of each breast to break the breastbone and to flatten it. Cut deep slashes diagonally in each breast and on the legs. Using two long metal skewers for each chicken, push the skewers from the tip of each breast through to the underside of the legs, which should be spread outwards so that the thickness of the chicken is as even as possible.

Put the saffron in a mortar with the salt and pound with a pestle to pulverize the threads. Add the garlic and pound to a paste. Work in the paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, black pepper, lemon juice and olive oil. Rub the spice mix into the chickens, rubbing it into the slashes. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Bring the chickens to room temperature 1 hour before cooking.

Prepare a charcoal fire or preheat the barbecue and place the chickens on the gill, skin side up. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, continually turning the chicken as it cooks and brushing with any remaining marinade. The chicken is cooked if the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced. Cooking time can be shortened on a barbecue if a roasting tin is inverted over the chickens to act as a mini oven – reduce the heat to low to prevent burning. Transfer the chickens to a platter, remove the skewers, cover with a foil tent and leave to rest for 5 minutes before cutting in half to serve.

Quarter the lemons and dip the cut surfaces in the sifted icing sugar. Place on the barbecue hotplate. Cook briefly on the cut surfaces until golden and caramelized. Serve the chickens with the lemon quarters and watercress.

Note: I made this recipe with pre-cut chicken pieces. It worked just fine. 

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Review in Brief

This will appeal to: Anyone who wants to explore and experience the exotic, slightly-sweet spicing of classic Moroccan cuisine. Not familiar with the food? The photos alone will convince you to give it a try.

Must try recipes:

  • Spiced Lentils: Hearty, healthy and bursting with classic spices, this guilt-free dish will appeal to everyone.
  • Prawns with herbs and preserved lemons: Even if you don’t have preserved lemons on hand, you can enjoy this simple but delicious dish.
  • Almond Filo Coil: This dessert is similar to baklava, only in an intriguing spiral shape. The recipe is supposed to keep for 2 days, but I’m not sure it would last that long in my house.

Biggest delight: The photographs. Sure, you get plenty of mouth-watering food shots, but you also get pictures of market places, the people, the landscape, and the lifestyle. It’s as if Ruth Reichl had taken over an issue of National Geographic.

No Comments
  • Amy Proulx
    Posted at 14:25h, 27 October

    I highly recommend Morocco. Having lived and taught there, I fell in love with the magical relationship that Moroccans have with their food. Making Moroccan food in Canada pales in comparison to the symphony of senses that you’ll experience with food over there. Imagine eating your chicken, on the top of an ancient mud building, the red sun setting behind an ancient mosque, the sound of the market hawkers in the distance, the smoke of charcoal grills and incense wafting through…

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 17:18h, 27 October

    You should work for the Moroccan Tour Board! This is the kind of thing I am hoping to experience. And the book’s photos captures some of these kinds of moments.

    We MUST get together and talk sometime soon. Perhaps with Joanne who will love to her your stories.

  • Glo McNeill
    Posted at 13:09h, 30 October

    Most of my travels were over 40 years ago but I can still give you some good rule of thumb guidelines:
    1. Never visit anywhere where there are more flies than people
    2. Never visit a third world country that has not yet had its revolution
    3. Never visit a country that has more people than trees.
    4. Never visit a country where the native population can’t afford to eat in the same places you eat.

    The one place I would love to revisit is Venice. I dream about it. Nothing ever changes there, even, I suspect, the people are the same or descendants of, medieval dwellers. The same locations have held bakeries, shoe stores, hotels, for hundreds of years. Even the pigeons can trace their lineage back to the 13th century.

  • Amy Proulx
    Posted at 17:54h, 30 October

    Come on down to Niagara for a weekend once The Fair is over. We’ve got lots of room, and more than plenty of things to see and do within a half hour drive.

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 08:52h, 03 November

    I adore Niagara. Done some wine touring but am sure you know of spots that would be amazing.

    And be careful what you offer. I do take people up on things, you know. Just ask Julie Van Rosendaal 🙂

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 08:54h, 03 November

    Glo, I think that’s the best travel advice I’ve heard in YEARS.

    I’ve been to Venice and it’s a magical place, but very crowded and the people aren’t as gregarious as the Florentines. But I don’t blame them. Their city is invaded daily, year round. Even those pigeons wish the tourists would give them some peace.

  • Judith Rutty Godfrey
    Posted at 19:01h, 16 November

    Just want you to know that I’ll d

    Oh damn,,,,,I
    ;;;l;l respond later……it’s the wine~!

  • Lana
    Posted at 13:28h, 20 November

    How wonderful that you have a friend who shares your love of cooking and your “Reisefieber”:) My oldest daughter is my best travel companion, but I am afraid that pretty soon she will find someone she’d rather climb the pyramids with:)
    Northern Africa attracts me, too, and I second your pick of Morocco.
    BTW, I love spatchcocked chickens! You can have so much more of that crispy skin!

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 13:33h, 20 November

    Laughing out loud at this incoherent comment. Hope you enjoyed the wine!

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 13:38h, 20 November

    I am lucky! My husband is a wonderful travel companion to big cities, but the “exotic” places don’t interest him. It’s great to have someone who likes to travel to the less urban locals.

    Thanks for endorsing my North African choice. We have lots of travel options and the hardest part will be narrowing it down to one destination.

    Hope you and your eldest daughter get to the pyramids together. That’s on my bucket list, too!