MOROCCAN CHICKEN

Today I broke out the CrockPot. It's getting to feel like fall around here (I don't think there will be any more 60 degree days) and I just can't live without it in the winter. I have so many recipes that I've been wanting to try, and the other day I got a book out of the library that was dedicated to slow-cooking recipes. So of course, I had to try one. Today is that day.

This Moroccan Chicken recipe looked really good upon first glance. There was chicken, there were some veggies (like stew), and there were spices. Lots of spices. But what threw me were the raisins. How could I put raisins in my CrockPot? It also called for dried apricots, which I didn't have. I'll let yo know how it turns out.


Ingredients:
2 large onions, cut in half, then thinly sliced
2 cups sliced carrots (about 4 medium)
3 pounds meaty chicken pieces, skinned (I'm pretty sure I have less than this, and all breast meat)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely snipped (I didn't have these. So I just left them out)
1 14-ounce can chicken broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large CrockPot (mine is about 5 quarts I think) combine onions and carrots on the bottom.
Add chicken; sprinkle with salt.
Add raisins and apricots.
In another bowl, whisk broth, paste, flour, lemon juice, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, and black pepper. Pour over chicken.
Cover and cook. Low for 6 1/2 -- 7 hours, high for 3 1/2 -- 4 hours.
Serve with couscous (especially toasted pine nut, if you have it).



Tips on using your Slow-Cooker:
1. No matter what size you have, you must fill it between half and 3/4 full every time you use it. Too little food and it will burn. Too much food and it won't cook all the way through. I didn't know this. (For some reason, it just never occurred to me.) I can't tell you how many times I've burned something, because I have quite a big CrockPot and only two of us to eat from it. Here's to better luck in the future.



UPDATE:
Just finished dinner and we were quite impressed. The chicken was a little overdone, but perhaps that was because I put less than what the recipe called for (it was only for the two of us! I didn't want TOO many leftovers). THe taste was good, but turned out more like a stew with the carrots and onions. Perhaps if we had included the apricots it would have been sweeter, more of like I was thinking it would turn out to be? We'll see next time, for even though there were things that could be improved, this recipe is staying on our list.