THUG KITCHEN: MOROCCAN SPICED COUSCOUS with HONEY GLAZED CHICKEN

Welcome back!

What from? I don’t know! But I do know what I’m welcoming you to: Super-Awesome-Funtastic-Califragilistic-Da-Bomb.Com Recipes! Whoo! That was a mouthful! Try saying that three times fast. Go ahead, I’ll wait!

As you can tell, I’m in much better spirits now. For the most part I am roughly 98% healed again, and that stomach virus has moved on! Like I said, I’m usually only sick for about 24 hours, so being sick for THREE DAYS, was killing me! The worst part? I couldn’t eat all of the yummy recipes in my new cookbook! Luckily, I got to try at least one before I fell ill.

You all know how much I love to eat, and how much I love to cook and bake (if only for the pretty pictures), so when my love brought my new cookbook that I ordered from Amazon, called Thug Kitchen, I couldn’t wait to dig in.

How do I describe Thug Kitchen? It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, or those who don’t cuss. It’s loaded with cuss words and talks to you worse than an orderly in an orphan house in a ghetto in Brooklyn before the civil rights movement. Got the picture? Great. So you can see why I love this book! I feel like the book is having a conversation with me, and I know that sounds weird, but it makes cooking fun. I was a little intimated when I started flipping through and saw some veggie-filled stuff, I don’t eat (even though I am pescatarian). But when I landed on the one called, “Moroccan Spiced Couscous”, I thought to myself, “Hey I own those ingredients!” It really was that simple. But of course I complicated things a little, just for a challenge. I didn’t follow it to a ‘T’, so I’ll include my alterations with the original if you decide to do it that way too. (I took the liberty of censoring it for you, but kept the original tagline because it’s just so funny).

MOROCCAN SPICED COUSCOUS with HONEY GLAZED CHICKEN

“Couscous? Oranges? Cinnamon? In a savoury dish? Go on, try that s***. We f****** dare you.”

Makes enough for 2 to 4 as a side

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups couscous

• 1 ½ cups boiling water

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon paprika

• 1/8 teaspoon cumin

• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

• 2 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar

• 2 to 3 cups spinach or kale

• 1 cup chopped orange segments (5 small or 1-2 big) (I didn’t do this because I don’t like oranges)

My additions:

• 1 chicken breast, cleaned, filleted and skinless

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• ½ teaspoon ginger

• BBQ sauce for serving (optional but helped a lot)

Directions

1. Clean the chicken and de-bone etc. if need be. (We used a thigh, so that was so hard to take the skin off then cut the meat off the bone. This is why we have boyfriends!) Then soak the meat in your honey, soy sauce and ginger mixture for at least 5 minutes.

2. Mix the couscous and spices in a medium saucepot with a tight-fitting lid. Add the boiling water to the couscous mix without splashing it around, or boil on stovetop on medium-low heat (as I did because splashing boiling hot water in a bowl sounded dangerous). Stirring occasionally, let rest for at least 8 minutes. The couscous should absorb all the water while you wait and it should be tender when you take off the lid. Easy.

3. While you wait, heat and grease a small skillet on medium and mix together the olive oil and rice vinegar in a small glass. Chop up the spinach/kale into thick ribbons.

4. Grill chicken pieces in the skillet until slightly browned on both sides, making sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly.

5. When the couscous is ready, stir it around with a fork to fluff it up, add the dressing to it, and stir it up some more until it is mixed. Gently fold in the orange pieces and spinach. Season to your taste (at this point, we used the BBQ sauce). Top with grilled chicken. Serve either cold or at room temperature.

My boyfriend was satisfied, and there were even leftovers. It’s a great lunch dish so I would recommend this. I can’t wait to try the other recipes in the book. I already have about 7 pages bookmarked.

Tomorrow I’ll share my new doughnut recipe, so stay tuned for that!

Until then,

XoX,

Olivia

#thugkitchen #cookbook #healthy #lunch #couscous #chicken #honey #glaze #spice #recipe #dinner