A trip to Morocco...

Okay, I wish I was taking a trip to Morocco... add that to my never-ending list of places I want to travel to. But, sadly, no big vacation left for me in 09. So, instead I took 2 cornish hens out of my freezer this morning and cooked them up - Moroccan style. And, I threw in a bunch of fall veggies that have ontinued to pile up in my fridge. The recipe is straight out of my Gourmet cookbook. Not that easy, but not impossible. The worst part was cleaning and cutting up the hens. But - there's no reason you can't make this with chicken breasts, legs, thighs or whatever. You can also add potatoes and carrots to the vegetable mix. Honestly - I don't think I care much for turnips, so when I make this next, I'll defnitely be using potatoes instead of turnips.

There's lots of ingredients in this - but don't get overwhelmed, half of it is just the spice mixture. Remember - you can use almost any fall veggies that you want (I highly recommend leaving in the squash and onions though), and you can use Cornish hens or chicken breast/thighs/legs.

Moroccan-Style Roast Cornish hens with Vegetables (from Gourmet cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 1/2 tbsp salt

4 garlic cloves

1/4 cup mild honey

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp paprika

4 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp ground black pepper

4 Cornish hens, rinsed & patted dry

2 large zucchini, halved and cut into pieces

2 medium turnips, peeled, halved and cut pieces

2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut into pieces

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into pieces

2 medium onions, cut into wedges

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in juice, drained and chopped

1/2 cup chicken stock (low-sodium is best)

Garnish (optional): 6 tbsp chopped parsley, cilantro and mint

--> With rack in middle of oven, preheat to 425 F. Oil a large roasting pan.

--> Coarsely grind caraway seeds with salt (in a spice grinder if you have one, otherwise with the back of a knife or rolling pin). Mince garlic, then mash to a paste with caraway mixture. Transfer paste into a large bowl and whisk with honey, lemon juice, oil, and spices.

--> With kitchen shears, cut out and discard backbone from each hen. Then halve each hen lengthwise.

--> Put zucchini, turnips, peppers, squash and onions in oiled roasting pan. Add half the spice mixture and toss well until coated. Add tomatoes and stock and stir well, then spread vegetables out in pan. Add hens to remaining spice mixture and toss to coat, then arrange hens breast side up over vegetables in pan. Cover pan tightly with foil and roast 1 hour.

--> Uncover and roast hens until browned and veggies are tender, for 20-30 min more. Skim fat from cooking liquid. Serve over couscous and sprinkle herbs on top for garnish.