**A Moroccan-Inspired Chicken Recipe with Couscous**

When it comes to cooking a delicious and flavorful chicken dish, one must consider the type of stock used as a base. In this recipe, we will be using chicken stock as the primary ingredient to add depth and richness to our dish. The aroma of the stock is already beginning to fill the kitchen, signaling that the flavors are about to come together in perfect harmony.

As we prepare the couscous, it's essential to understand the ratio of liquid to couscous. A good rule of thumb is to use one part couscous to one and a half parts liquid. In this recipe, we will be using one cup of couscous and one and a half cups of stock, which should provide ample moisture for our dish. The steam from the hot water will cause the couscous to cook evenly and absorb all the flavors around it.

To prepare the chicken, we need to carefully season it with a blend of spices, including cinnamon, cumin, coriander, paprika, and morocco. This marinade will not only add flavor to the chicken but also help to tenderize it. Next, we'll place a brick on top of the breast, which will help to press down on the meat and create a crispy exterior.

As the chicken cooks, the aroma in the kitchen becomes more intense, signaling that the dish is almost complete. Once the chicken has cooked for about halfway through, we'll finish roasting it in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until it reaches perfection. The result will be a crispy-skinned chicken with tender and juicy meat.

While the chicken cooks, we can prepare the base flavor for our couscous. Simply chop up some onions, apricots, and almonds, and sauté them in a little olive oil until they're softened. This mixture will add natural sweetness and crunch to our dish.

Finally, it's time to assemble our couscous. We'll start by placing one cup of cooked couscous into a large bowl. Next, we'll add one and a half cups of stock, which should be hot but not boiling. Stir the mixture gently, allowing the liquid to penetrate the grains and infuse them with flavor.

To season our couscous, we can add a pinch of salt, some fresh cracked pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of lemon zest. This will enhance the natural flavors of the dish without overpowering them.

With our couscous base complete, it's time to assemble our final dish. We'll place a portion of the chicken on top of the couscous, followed by some chopped herbs and a sprinkle of spice. The result is a beautiful and flavorful dish that's perfect for any meal.

**The Final Product**

As we take our first bites, the flavors come together in perfect harmony. The crispy skin of the chicken provides a satisfying texture contrast to the fluffy couscous. The addition of fresh herbs and spices adds a bright and refreshing touch to the dish. This Moroccan-inspired chicken recipe is sure to impress even the most discerning palates.

**Tips and Variations**

When cooking this recipe, it's essential to be patient and allow each component to cook slowly and evenly. The couscous should be cooked until it's tender but still slightly firm in the center, while the chicken should be roasted until it reaches perfection. Feel free to adjust the amount of spices or add your own favorite ingredients to make the dish your own.

For a more substantial meal, consider adding some flatbread or other side dishes to the table. A simple green salad or some roasted vegetables would also complement this dish nicely. Whatever you choose, be sure to enjoy the fruits of your labor and appreciate the flavors that have come together to create something truly special.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit's my ultimate brick chicken so what we're going to do is we're going to take some hard spices here all right we've got some coriander i'm going to put about two tablespoons we're going to drop it down the bottom all right so we got that we've also got some cumin seed which is really delicious i got whole cinnamon sticks here that we're going to grind i'm going to take two of these guys i'm just going to snap them up in pieces that way we put them into the spice grinder they grind up pretty easily into a powder all right so get those guys going give a couple minutes all right you definitely want to keep an eye on this because they toast it pretty quickly all right so we got that i've also got some ground spices you never want to toast spices that have already been ground now these are some chilies and stuff we've got paprika we've got also some cayenne two good tablespoons nice big handful nice big pinch i'm gonna drop that in and also some black pepper this is a perfect spice mix okay so we got that now i'm starting to smell these things already all right and what we're going to do is grind this up with one of these little coffee grinder guys like 10 bucks 12 bucks we're going to take the top of this off and after these spices start to smell really fragrant that means the flavors will be starting to wake up right and what we're going gonna put this right into our coffee grinder now you wanna make sure you got two of these all right one for your coffee and one for your spice mixes and you definitely don't wanna mix them up and we're gonna grind them up all right the lid goes on and when it starts to sound smooth you know the pieces are pretty consistent that's it check this out we're gonna dump that right on top all right and then we are good to go now i want to make a paste out of this so we're going to need some moisture um first things first we hit a little bit of extra virgin olive oil we drop right on top all right then we're going to hit it with a super high note some lemon juice okay i've got a lemon here we're going to cut this up and give it a little squeeze and we're going to marinate a whole chicken a spoon and just start to stir it all together so we've got one chicken so we're going to put in a pan here all right and we're going to let it marinate with a beautiful spice mix so all this beautiful flavor the lemon the paprika the cinnamon really starts to penetrate the flavor of the chicken itself give it a good rub rub all that flavor and look at that great it's really intense it's a little spicy it's really really interesting all right so take this whole thing give it a good smush around all right just like that and then we're gonna throw it into the fridge keep it nice and cold so i've got some chicken stock about a cup and a half you can use water if you want i like to use stock because it you know has a little more flavor all right so we're gonna let this start to warm up all right and once it comes to a boil you just need to kind of like tea cuddle hot all right so we're going to steam the couscous so it gets nice and fluffy right so we're going to take this brick we're going to wrap it up a couple of times all right make sure none of the sand and stuff kind of gets into our food right we've got a nice little piece right here on the set you got a nice little package you got some weight here if you don't have a brick um what i'd recommend is either getting a smaller cast iron pan or just something that can go in the oven that has a little bit of weight to it to really kind of press the chicken okay so we take our chicken very carefully it's heavy okay we're just going to lay this guy in there look at that beautiful color and then marinade gorgeous cinnamon cumin coriander paprika morocco baby rocking the cavs box i'm going to drop that in nice and carefully the aroma is just beautiful already it's really take it off i love that okay so take the brick drop the brick right on the breast in between the breasts and the legs okay to really kind of force out some of that fast and get super super crispy you can hear that starting to sizzle even harder right it's doing its thing it's going to be awesome now we're going to cook this halfway through on the stove top until it gets super crispy and then we're going to finish roasting it in the oven probably you know 35 minutes at about 375 degrees till cooks all the way through and it's going to be so crispy and absolutely perfect all right so we got that all right i'm going to chop all the stuff up the onions the apricots and the almonds and i'm just going to let saute just for a little bit some extra virgin olive oil and that's gonna be the base flavor for the couscous i can start to taste it already okay all right cool let that go chicken i'm telling you it's unbelievable how amazing this chicken smells right now okay we got the couscous what's going to go into our big bowl here now when you're putting couscous together a really good rule of thumb is one part couscous to one and a half parts liquid and this is plenty for four people i have to really stop myself when i'm cooking these days because if it's just me my wife and other couple i always have a tendency to cook for an army so this would be plenty for four people enough for the chicken enough for the flat bread and everything else can be great okay so we got our almonds are apricots or red onions i'm going to rake this down to the bottom of the bowl all right all right so you got one cup of couscous all right what we do is we have one cup all right of stock and then another half a cup all right just like that perfect and it's going to steam and it's going to get nice and fluffy all right it's going to soak up all that great liquid and it's also going to blend in with the apricots it's going to have a fantastic flavor so i'm gonna do is i'm gonna stir this together okay then we're gonna season it up couple different ways like a little bit of salt all right a little bit of fresh cracked pepper all right a little bit of olive oil and we're also gonna hit it with a little bit of lemon zest all right cool now what we're going to do is going to wrap this up in plastic and just let it steam and let the the couscous itself those little kernels really soak up all this really beautiful natural flavor take a look what i got in the pan here it's absolutely beautiful and it is so crispy look at the skin on the backside a really beautiful couscous take the fork and just kind of rake it through so it stops it from cooking all right and that's it nice and tender looks absolutely beautiful and then we're going to take our chopped up herbs here all right really fresh clean herbs mint cilantro green onion all right we'll get it one more stir just like that isn't that gorgeous we're just going to lay the chicken right on top of it how crisp that is not beautiful take this out to a pool party or just having some friends over for dinner and i think you're a superhero nicole all right you go for a nice little bite and you get all that great flavor that's like rocking the casbah straight from marrakesh it's your kitchen that's off the chart youit's my ultimate brick chicken so what we're going to do is we're going to take some hard spices here all right we've got some coriander i'm going to put about two tablespoons we're going to drop it down the bottom all right so we got that we've also got some cumin seed which is really delicious i got whole cinnamon sticks here that we're going to grind i'm going to take two of these guys i'm just going to snap them up in pieces that way we put them into the spice grinder they grind up pretty easily into a powder all right so get those guys going give a couple minutes all right you definitely want to keep an eye on this because they toast it pretty quickly all right so we got that i've also got some ground spices you never want to toast spices that have already been ground now these are some chilies and stuff we've got paprika we've got also some cayenne two good tablespoons nice big handful nice big pinch i'm gonna drop that in and also some black pepper this is a perfect spice mix okay so we got that now i'm starting to smell these things already all right and what we're going to do is grind this up with one of these little coffee grinder guys like 10 bucks 12 bucks we're going to take the top of this off and after these spices start to smell really fragrant that means the flavors will be starting to wake up right and what we're going gonna put this right into our coffee grinder now you wanna make sure you got two of these all right one for your coffee and one for your spice mixes and you definitely don't wanna mix them up and we're gonna grind them up all right the lid goes on and when it starts to sound smooth you know the pieces are pretty consistent that's it check this out we're gonna dump that right on top all right and then we are good to go now i want to make a paste out of this so we're going to need some moisture um first things first we hit a little bit of extra virgin olive oil we drop right on top all right then we're going to hit it with a super high note some lemon juice okay i've got a lemon here we're going to cut this up and give it a little squeeze and we're going to marinate a whole chicken a spoon and just start to stir it all together so we've got one chicken so we're going to put in a pan here all right and we're going to let it marinate with a beautiful spice mix so all this beautiful flavor the lemon the paprika the cinnamon really starts to penetrate the flavor of the chicken itself give it a good rub rub all that flavor and look at that great it's really intense it's a little spicy it's really really interesting all right so take this whole thing give it a good smush around all right just like that and then we're gonna throw it into the fridge keep it nice and cold so i've got some chicken stock about a cup and a half you can use water if you want i like to use stock because it you know has a little more flavor all right so we're gonna let this start to warm up all right and once it comes to a boil you just need to kind of like tea cuddle hot all right so we're going to steam the couscous so it gets nice and fluffy right so we're going to take this brick we're going to wrap it up a couple of times all right make sure none of the sand and stuff kind of gets into our food right we've got a nice little piece right here on the set you got a nice little package you got some weight here if you don't have a brick um what i'd recommend is either getting a smaller cast iron pan or just something that can go in the oven that has a little bit of weight to it to really kind of press the chicken okay so we take our chicken very carefully it's heavy okay we're just going to lay this guy in there look at that beautiful color and then marinade gorgeous cinnamon cumin coriander paprika morocco baby rocking the cavs box i'm going to drop that in nice and carefully the aroma is just beautiful already it's really take it off i love that okay so take the brick drop the brick right on the breast in between the breasts and the legs okay to really kind of force out some of that fast and get super super crispy you can hear that starting to sizzle even harder right it's doing its thing it's going to be awesome now we're going to cook this halfway through on the stove top until it gets super crispy and then we're going to finish roasting it in the oven probably you know 35 minutes at about 375 degrees till cooks all the way through and it's going to be so crispy and absolutely perfect all right so we got that all right i'm going to chop all the stuff up the onions the apricots and the almonds and i'm just going to let saute just for a little bit some extra virgin olive oil and that's gonna be the base flavor for the couscous i can start to taste it already okay all right cool let that go chicken i'm telling you it's unbelievable how amazing this chicken smells right now okay we got the couscous what's going to go into our big bowl here now when you're putting couscous together a really good rule of thumb is one part couscous to one and a half parts liquid and this is plenty for four people i have to really stop myself when i'm cooking these days because if it's just me my wife and other couple i always have a tendency to cook for an army so this would be plenty for four people enough for the chicken enough for the flat bread and everything else can be great okay so we got our almonds are apricots or red onions i'm going to rake this down to the bottom of the bowl all right all right so you got one cup of couscous all right what we do is we have one cup all right of stock and then another half a cup all right just like that perfect and it's going to steam and it's going to get nice and fluffy all right it's going to soak up all that great liquid and it's also going to blend in with the apricots it's going to have a fantastic flavor so i'm gonna do is i'm gonna stir this together okay then we're gonna season it up couple different ways like a little bit of salt all right a little bit of fresh cracked pepper all right a little bit of olive oil and we're also gonna hit it with a little bit of lemon zest all right cool now what we're going to do is going to wrap this up in plastic and just let it steam and let the the couscous itself those little kernels really soak up all this really beautiful natural flavor take a look what i got in the pan here it's absolutely beautiful and it is so crispy look at the skin on the backside a really beautiful couscous take the fork and just kind of rake it through so it stops it from cooking all right and that's it nice and tender looks absolutely beautiful and then we're going to take our chopped up herbs here all right really fresh clean herbs mint cilantro green onion all right we'll get it one more stir just like that isn't that gorgeous we're just going to lay the chicken right on top of it how crisp that is not beautiful take this out to a pool party or just having some friends over for dinner and i think you're a superhero nicole all right you go for a nice little bite and you get all that great flavor that's like rocking the casbah straight from marrakesh it's your kitchen that's off the chart you\n"