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Spiced chicken cous cous with roast root marga


Spiced chicken cous cous with roast root marga

Ingredients

one 1.5 kg chicken                                                    
2 tsp Harissa paste                         
2 lemons      
2tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot                                                               
1 orange-fleshed sweet potato
½ butternut squash                                                       
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic                                                              
4 bay leaves
1 tin chopped tomatoes                                    
salt and pepper
250g pack cous-cous prepared as directed


I often make this in place of a Sunday Roast.


In short
Preparation time:
15 mins
Cooking time:
90 mins
Total time:
105 mins
Serves:
4 people
Cuisine:
Middle East
Course:
Main

Method

This takes about two hours but very little of that  time is spent in the kitchen - perfect for a casual get together with friends and family. The quantities I have given serve 4 greedy people but a bigger chicken and more veg is all it takes to serve more - remember to adjust the cooking time to make sure the chicken is cooked through.

1 Preheat oven to 190ºC, gas mark 5. Loosen the neck flap of the chicken, ease the skin away from the breast , spread the Harissa paste over the breast and press the skin back in place. Put chicken in a large roasting tin. Halve one of the lemons and squeeze over the chicken, putting the empty shells inside the cavity. 2 Cut carrot, squash and sweet potato into 3 cm cubes and the onion into 8 wedges. Place prepared vegetables around chicken with bayleaves, peeled whole garlic cloves and the other lemon, cut into 8 wedges. Drizzle the olive oil over everything  and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 1¼ hours or until chicken is cooked, stirring vegetables occasionally. 3 Remove chicken from roasting tin, stand for 10 minutes and carve. Meanwhile remove bay leaves and lemon wedges from vegetables and spoon off as much fat as possible leaving the juices behind. Tip the tomatoes into the roasting tin and simmer over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, mixing well with a wooden spoon and crushing any large lumps of garlic and vegetables into the sauce. Serve the chicken and sauce with the prepared cous-cous


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19/3/2010 12:25 AM GST
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