Moroccan-Style Roast Chicken with Coriander and Mint

Name: Moroccan-Style Roast Chicken with Coriander and Mint
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Morocco
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper; ½ cup chopped fresh mint; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 2 tablespoons paprika; ½ teaspoon saffron, steeped in 2 tablespoons hot water; 2 tablespoons finely minced garlic; 2 onions, diced (about 2 cups); ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro; 4 poussins (young chickens) or Rock Cornish game hens, about 1 pound each; 1½ cups reduced Chicken Stock; ⅓ cup Preserved Lemon Peel; 16 to 20 kalamata or ripe green olives; Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Back to Square One

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 1992

About

Some people think they hate cilantro, yet they devour Mexican and North African sauces that are laced with this pungent green herb. This is a classic chicken recipe from North Africa, and those folks who claim they don’t like cilantro will enjoy it and wonder what makes it so good.

Ingredients

Spice Paste Marinade

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup chopped fresh mint
2

Africa
Morocco
Main course
Mediterranean
Gluten-free
Spicy

Method

Procedure

Stir together all the marinade ingredients into a paste. Reserve half of it. Rub the remaining paste over the outsides and in the cavities of the poussins or Cornish hens.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the birds on a rack in a shallow roasting pan a