Moroccan Chicken Salad

By Florence Fabricant

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 4(199)
Notes: Read community notes

Just as a little saffron, garlic and paprika can conjure the flavors of Spain, so too will preserved lemons, cumin, mint and olives evoke Morocco. This salad and the accompanying couscous can be doubled or tripled to anchor a generous buffet. Both can be assembled a couple of hours in advance and set aside on a kitchen counter. Serve them at room temperature.

Featured in: Chardonnay, the Oregon Way

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

2teaspoons ground cumin
1teaspoon hot Spanish paprika
1teaspoon salt
6skinless bone-in chicken thighs
6tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
⅓cup dry white wine
1large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut in 2-by-½-inch strips
½cup thinly sliced onion
2small zucchini, ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise and sliced ½-inch thick
16small pitted green olives
1½teaspoons harissa
¼cup lemon juice
1½teaspoons honey
½preserved lemon, flesh removed and peel minced
¾cup instant couscous
½cup fresh mint leaves in chiffonade

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Combine cumin, paprika and ½ teaspoon salt in a shallow bowl, and lightly coat chicken with spices. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a sauté pan. Sear chicken on medium-high about 90 seconds on the “skin” side, turn, add wine, reduce heat to very low, cover and braise 25 minutes. Remove chicken and juices to a clean bowl.
Step 2
Add bell pepper and onion to the pan and sauté on low about 10 minutes, until softened. Add zucchini and olives and sauté until zucchini starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in harissa, lemon juice, honey and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Remove from heat.
Step 3
Using your fingers and a paring knife, remove chicken from the bones and tear meat in strips. Place chicken and juices in a bowl, along with vegetable mixture from the sauté pan and preserved lemon peel. Toss ingredients together and set aside.
Step 4
Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in a 2-quart saucepan. Add couscous and remaining salt and stir over low heat 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in 1¼ cups boiling water, stir, cover and set aside 15 minutes. Uncover, fluff couscous with a fork, stir over low heat a few minutes to dry it, then fold in half the mint. Transfer chicken to a serving platter, scatter with remaining mint and serve with couscous in a bowl alongside, all at room temperature.

Ratings

4 out of 5

199 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Hannah6 years ago

Comforting, full flavored, hearty yet not heavy: it's a great dish, a bit time consuming (took me 90-minutes start-to-finish) but quite good. The chicken alone has a delicious preparation - probably worth cooking just that component sometime - and the full dish could become a standby. Two notes: I doubled the amount of salt rubbed into the chicken, and still found that I added some salt to the full dish at the end. Also, adding mint to the couscous made the leaves turn black. Avoid that!

Sandy Camargo6 years ago

This salad was wonderful. Husband made happy noises throughout. There are several steps, but the salad’s being served at room temperature means one can make it a bit ahead. The only tiny change I made was to add tarragon to the herb mixture, because I hadn’t enough mint.

jody3 weeks ago

Used 1 tsp of sambal olek in place of harissa. Could have used bit more than 1 tsp. Used lemon zest in place of preserved lemon

Alice1 year ago

Use rotisseries chicken and make everything juicier.

AmyT1 year ago

Made exactly except added 1 tsp saffron to chicken while cooking. Added 3/4 c golden raisins and 2 T sweetened with fruit juice apricot jam to veg. Delish! Perfect for a very hot day. Room temp

meg s.1 year ago

I used bone-in, skin-on thighs and after 25 minutes the chicken was still pretty raw

Barbara1 year ago

This was a lovely recipe. I especially liked being able to do this in a leisurely manner throughout the day. And I only needed one pan! I followed the recipe pretty much except using boneless thighs (what I had). And for our taste, it did need more salt. The juices from the chicken were so good! I felt I had enough to scoop out a 1/2 cup to use in the couscous. Mmmmm.

Katie1 year ago

Delish! A nice amount of heat and a great almost one pot dinner. I added saffron to the chicken because I got it in Spain and want to use it before it goes bad! Also used boneless skinless chicken thighs. Big hit with my boyfriend, will be making it again!

Jennifer O2 years ago

The chicken and juices through Step 1 freeze well. Maybe double or triple the chicken and braise. After defrosting a portion, I chop fresh veggies, etc, make dressing to continue with Steps 2 - 4. Now it's a quick delicious lunch or dinner!

Rod2 years ago

Absolutely PERFECT the way it was presented. We ate it warm, but after dinner whilst taking care if left overs, I tasted a twee bite and it was indeed so MUCH tastier.

Melanie M2 years ago

Excellent dish with an amazing combination of flavors! I made this with brown rice pre-cooked in the Instant Pot instead of couscous to make it gluten free. I used a mix of parsley, mint and cilantro for the rice. It took me about 90-100 minutes to make it from start to finish. With my homemade harissa, which is medium-hot on its own, this didn't have any harissa flavor or heat at all. I would add more harissa next time. I also gradually increased the heat when sautéing the veggies to med-high.

mspd3 years ago

Add toasted chopped almonds.

some dude5 years ago

with oregon chardonnay

Hannah6 years ago

Sandy Camargo6 years ago

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