MOROCCAN BRAISED CHICKEN LEGS AND THIGHS WITH CARROT JUICE, DATE

Moroccan Braised Chicken Legs and Thighs With Carrot Juice, Date image

This fine Cooking recipe was really easy. I used California dates as Medjool dates were unavailable. I served it with couscous cooked in chicken stock. The Moroccan flavors were absolutely delicious. This was a very inexpensive dish. Yet it was elegant in presentation. Hope you enjoy.

Provided by Tastings by CeCe

Categories Chicken

Time 1h15m

Yield 4 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 14

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Ingredients

4 medium bone-in skin-on, chicken thighs, trimmed of excess skin and fat
4 medium skin-on chicken drumsticks, trimmed of excess skin and fat
kosker salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/4 cups carrot juice
3/4 cup chicken broth, homemade or 3/4 cup canned low salt
10 -12 medjool dates, pitted and halved
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Steps:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Season the chicken pieces generously with salt and pepper. Using a 10-11" straight side ovenproof saute pan with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Arrange the chicken skin side down in the pan (it'll be crowded), and cook until deeply brown, about 5 minutes. Use a splatter screen if you have one). Turn the pieces over and cook until the other sides are deeply browned, 3 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to plate.
Pour out and discard all but 1 tablespoon of the fat in the pan. Put the pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequestly, until it's soft and begins to color, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add the ginger, cinnamon, and cumin and stir into the onions for about 1 minute.
Pour in the carrot juice and broth and bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
return the chicken to the pan. Cover, transfer to the oven and braise for 15 minutes.
Add the dates and continue to braise until the chicken is fork-tender and the drumstick meatstarts to come away from the bone, 30 to 35 minutes more.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken and the dates to a serving dish and keep warm by loosely covering the dish with foil.
Tilt the saute pan and skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce.
Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, abouth 5 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and season to taste.
Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and serve.