Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Israeli Couscous

It was supposed to rain all day today.. and I'm staring at blue skies and dry pavement. Sigh. I should have made plans... but I don't know, I've been going out too much lately... it's just nice staying at home for once. Typically when it rains, I stay in and just have a pathetically slow day. This day was pretty productive, I made some healthy apple bran muffins for breakfast (I'm still trying to find good lighting for the pics...) and decided to make this dish for lunch. I'm going to go out for dinner, so I don't have to think about food for the rest of the day.... but now I have a kitchen to clean up again. It's never ending. I used so many different utensils, pots and pans to create just one meal... it's almost ridiculous. Oh well. I enjoyed it a lot, and I don't' think I can ever find a meal like this at a restaurant.

I rubbed this chicken with a lot of things. I made this quick "marinade" (would have been a great one too if I had the idea 24 hours ago...) with olive oil, yogurt, lemon juice, paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, ginger...I have no idea what's authentic.. but this worked well together. It smelled fantastic! I don't have a recipe because I just added until it seemed right. I guess that's what happens when you start cooking a lot.. everything is just eyeballing it... some days I wish I did write down the exact recipe so I can make it in the future. I wanted a chicken to have a bold flavor since chicken to me is really blah. I haven't blogged about baked chicken in years!.. why? Because... I love beef. I baked this at 350 degree for 22 minutes and broiled it on low for 5 minutes, this was a chicken breast with skin left on it.

While the chicken was baking, I started on the couscous.  Israeli couscous is my favorite type. I like the texture of it a lot. I just never know how to cook it. I followed the directions of added a bit of oil to the pan and browning the pearls before added any liquid. I then deglazed the pan with some wine, and pour in some hot chicken stock mixed with a little bit of sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, black pepper, and paprika. I added a small amount of raisins too, and let it all come to a simmer. I covered the pot and check on it ever so often to see if the liquid evaporated.. if it did and the couscous didn't seem ready, I added more water... It was a simple meal, and tossed some green onions in at the end for some added freshness.