Chicken Marrakesh for a Crowd

Marrakesh chicken is a real crowd pleaser. It’s interesting enough to serve for holidays or special dinners. It’s easy enough to serve for casual weekend gatherings, too. We appreciate the load of dried apricots and figs along with warmth inducing cumin and ginger during these winter months.

Best of all, this dish is best when assembled a day in advance.

We love that.

Marinate chicken the eve before you’re cooking. The chicken benefits from bathing in red wine and absorbs the sweet and tangy flavors of the other ingredients. You’ll have plenty of time to round out your meal with a crisp green salad or a simply wok’ed winter green with a bit of garlic or slivers of fresh ginger. Serve with your grain of choice so not a bit of the gravy is lost.

Note: Green peppercorns lend a complexity and mild piquancy to this dish. They provide a fiery kick like freshly ground black pepper but are meant to be eaten whole. We reduced the amount in this recipe by half when we made it for a crowd during Chanukah.

Photo: Liz Rueven

This recipe is MEAT.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

2 whole Chickens, cut into four pieces

6 Garlic cloves

1 T Dried Thyme

1/2 T Dried Cumin

1 t ground Ginger

1 t Salt

1/2 C Olive Oil

4 t Green Peppercorns (soaked in water and drained)

1 C whole pitted Black Olives

1 and ½ C Dried Apricots

1 C dried small Figs

1/2 C good Red Wine

Zest of 2 Lemons

½ C packed Brown Sugar

1 C large Pecan pieces or Pine Nuts

Directions:

Marinate chicken in all the ingredients through the lemon zest overnight.Place the marinated chickens in a large baking pan and remove from the refrigerator one hour before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with brown sugar and nuts and continue cooking, covered, for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until it looks golden brown. Transfer to a platter and drizzle a few spoons of the pan juices over the chicken.