Sweet Potato and Date Chicken Tagine

I met my husband at work. I was young, just out of college, and was instantly smitten by this sophisticated New Yorker with his jazzy ties. We were friends at first, wasting countless work hours in whispered conversations in office cubicles, commiserating over our love lives, and talking about food.

Yes, food. I liked his ties, but I fell in love with his appetite and enthusiasm for food. We could talk for hours about great meals, favorite restaurants, and food memories. Our first dates were spent cooking for each other, timidly revealing our cooking repertoire.

Over a decade later, Steve and I are still equally passionate about each other, and about food. Our tastes have evolved, but they've evolved in sync. Chances are that if I see something in a cookbook that looks good to me, it will look good to him too. We're suckers for a sweet savory combination, like Cider Braised Pork Roast.

Last week, I made a chicken dish based on another recipe in the Dorie Greenspan Around my French Table Cookbook, Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes. I had never made it before, but I knew, before Steve walked in through the door, that it would be a winner. I used dates instead of prunes, and left out some of the spicier exotic ingredients in the recipe. The resulting dish was the perfect fall dinner, sweet, savory, and a rainbow of golden reds, browns, and yellows.


Not only was it delicious, but it was one of those throw it together and leave it alone to cook dishes, perfect to set up a romantic candlelight dinner.

Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Dates (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Table cookbook)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour and a half
Ingredients: 
1/4 cups of olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup of water
salt
1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 large pinches of saffron threads, crushed
1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf
4 tablespoons of honey
1 cup of chicken broth (preferably homemade)
12 chopped and pitted dates
1 pound of sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes

1. Pour two tablespoons of vegetable oil in the bottom of a dutch oven or cast iron casserole over medium-low heat. Now add the onion, stirring to coat it with oil, then add 1 tablespoon of water, season with a little salt, and cover the pot. Cook the onions gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are soft but not brown.
2. In a separate skillet, brown the chicken. Heat a tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Put the chicken in the pan, skin side down, and brown for 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer it to a plate.
3. Once the onions are soft, add the saffron, honey, bay leaf, chicken broth, and the rest of the water. Throw in the dates, and then the chicken. Toss the sweet potatoes on top and bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Reduce the heat to medium, bringing the liquid to a low simmer. Cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. Resist the temptation to lift the lid before the 45 minute mark. The steam is what makes this dish so good. The dish is done once the sweet potatoes are soft.
5. Feel free to reduce the liquid once the chicken is cooked. Just remove the chicken and sweet potatoes and boil the liquid until it is a consistency to your liking. We left ours as is: my man likes a lot of sauce.
6. Serve immediately, but don't get rid of leftovers. This dish was even better the next day.

Chicken Mushroom Casserole for Back to School

Cut down the back to school mayhem with this easy and comforting casserole

Back to school is a big time for resolutions for me. I want to feed my family better, want to get the kids started off right with good lunches, want to set the tone right from the get go. But then the madness of back to school hits, and I'm suddenly driving to Staples at 8:30 at night with three cranky kids in tow in search of an elusive mandatory red plastic folder. The calendar starts to bleed red ink, and the lazy summer afternoons are a quaint memory.

So this week, I'm starting out slow and simple with our dinner menu. The important thing is to sit down together every night with something tasty and homemade. No need to be fancy, to dig out the recipe books, this is not the time to try something new. Back to school is a time to celebrate routine.

I started out by roasting two chickens. I like to roast two at a time because we then eat one for dinner, often using a third or fourth drumstick to keep fights from breaking out, and then have plenty for leftovers to make another dinner and sometimes even fun lunch sandwiches. Prepping two chickens is no more effort than making one.

After the house filled with the delicious aroma of roasting chicken, we ate its crispy skin and juicy meat, and everyone ran off to get ready for bed. As part of the post-dinner clean up, I threw together this creamy chicken and mushroom casserole and popped it in the oven. The secret weapon is crispy onion strings blended with crackers to make the topping. It brings a salty savory crunch to every bite. Voila! Two meals made out of one, and less stress for the family at dinner time on day two.

Chicken Mushroom Casserole
Ingredients:
3 cups of leftover chicken, chopped coarsely
1 cup of sliced white mushrooms
2 shallots, chopped finely
3 tablespoons of butter


For the sauce:
3 tablespoons of butter
6 tablespoons of flour
3 cups of chicken stock (make sure to add any pan drippings left over from cooking the chicken)
2 egg yolks


For the topping
1 ½ cups of onion strings
3 cups of crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons of melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Chop up chicken meat.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons of butter. Add chopped shallots and pan fry on medium heat until soft and translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes.
4. Mix mushrooms with chicken in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
5. Melt the 3 remaining tablespoons of butter in a medium stockpot over medium heat, add the flour
and stir constantly for about 3-4 minutes, until the flour taste is cooked off. Don't let this brown.
Add the chicken stock all at once, stirring constantly until thickened. Once it is thickened and coats
the back of your spoon, turn off the heat. Then add in the egg yolks and stir until thoroughly mixed.
6. Pour over the chicken and mushroom mixture and blend well. Pour into an oven-proof casserole.
7. In a mini food processor, coarsely crumb the crackers and the onion strings. Pour melted butter on
top and pulse 7 to 10 times to mix well.
8. Sprinkle topping mixture over casserole to coat uniformly.
9. Cook in oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until topping is browned and casserole is bubbly.
10. Serve warm. Will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.