Moroccan

The combination of juicy chicken thighs and perfectly al dente orzo is a beautiful thing. Add fragrant Moroccan spices, bright lemon, briny olives, and fresh parsley to the equation, though, and you’ve got a truly delicious dinner. And as a bonus, this flavorful meal cooks up in one pan in about 35 minutes. Now that’s what we call a weeknight win!

This side dish is so smoky and fragrant, you may find yourself pushing aside the main course so that you can focus your attention on it. Smoked paprika not only lends its intense flavor to the couscous, but it also adds color, creating the most beautiful golden hue. Toasted sliced almonds add textural crunch to the dish (something that is all too often missing in plain ol’ couscous), and a slew of chopped fresh parsley brings its pop of green freshness to the equation.

Our choice of cooking fats that we employ in the kitchen seem to be constantly growing and evolving. Gone are the days when our choices were just butter or a bottle marked “vegetable oil.” Even all-purpose olive oil (extra-virgin or otherwise) is receiving some tough competition. Inspired by traditions from all over the world, we’re now experimenting with cooking fats like ghee, niter kibbeh, and coconut oil.

After making a big batch of preserved lemons a few months ago, I realized I’d need to figure out some ways to use them up! This recipe a new favorite — it’s a riff on a classic Middle Eastern tagine of slow-cooked chicken, artichokes, and preserved lemon, but cooked in a regular baking dish instead of the classic tagine baking dish. If you’re looking for a recipe to warm your kitchen and fill your home with the mouthwatering aromas, this is the one.

One of my favorite strategies for moving outside the box of the standard Shabbat dinner menu is to look to the global canon beyond the Eastern European standards I grew up with. The Jewish cuisines of Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East — all warm-weather climates — are particularly ripe with summer cooking inspiration. This chicken dish, for example, is often served on Shabbat by Moroccan Jews, but it was delightfully unfamiliar to me when I first started making it.

With Hanukkah around the corner and Christmas coming soon, holiday cookbook season is in full swing. Among the piles of recently published, glossy tomes, the book I’m most excited about is Jewish Soul Food: From Minsk to Marrakesh by Janna Gur. Gur is the longtime editor of Al Hashulchan, a popular food publication in Israel.

This hummus is so addicting, both in flavor and in color — bright orange! The Moroccan spices add such a lovely dimension, too. This is the kind of warm-and-spicy flavor combination I crave as the days get shorter and chillier. I have a feeling you will be whipping it up more than once this holiday season to share at dinner parties and potlucks. We are in the thick of the carrot harvest at our farm and this hummus is one of the first autumn carrot recipes I’ve made.

Maybe you’ve heard of harissa, but have you ever tried it? If you love condiments and adding a kick of spice to your meals, you’ll want to check this out! Harissa is a spicy and aromatic chile paste that’s a widely used staple in North African and Middle Eastern cooking. Harissa recipes vary between countries and regions, but a standard version includes a blend of hot chile peppers (which are often smoked), garlic, olive oil and spices, like cumin, coriander, caraway and mint.

As a vegetarian I’d long considered Moroccan tagines off-limits. These rich, aromatic stews are generally cooked with meat and besides, I don’t even own a tagine pot. Happily, my perspective has changed with Ghillie Başan’s beautiful new cookbook, Vegetarian Tagines & Couscous. Başan shows that seasonal vegetable tagines can be accessible, delicious, and easily made in a traditional vessel or any heavy-bottomed pot.

Chef Einat Admony knows a thing or two about “leaning in.” As creator of the popular New York eateries, Taim Falafel and Balaboosta, she has helped bring inspired Middle Eastern fare to New York City. The Israeli-native (her mother is originally from Iran; her father from Yemen), has a brand new cookbook out too. Also called Balaboosta, it shares many of her best dishes pulled from the restaurants and her Mediterranean roots. (See our peek inside it here.

Move over, ketchup and Sriracha! When it comes to versatile red condiments, harissa is my absolute favorite. This Tunisian chile sauce is a fantastic shortcut to spice up a meal and can be used with everything from meat to vegetables, couscous, roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, as a dip for bread … the list is truly endless. I first encountered harissa in England and France, where it’s often sold in tubes, jars, or cans.

Let’s talk about this tagine for a second: it’s crazy good. The dish has so much going on—the fragrant and heavily-spiced sauce, the jammy apricots, the crunchy almonds—and yet it totally works. There’s good reason why this Moroccan dish is a classic. Tagine is the name for both the North African dish and the vessel in which it’s prepared.

A tagine has a conical shape, a wide, shallow base, and a snug-fitting lid.

Chermoula (or charmoula) is the North African answer to pesto. Made with ground cilantro, garlic, cumin, and lemon, this sauce can be used for everything from marinating fish to drizzling over flatbread.The LA Times has an excellent basic recipe for chermoula. Make it a few times and then tweak it with smoked paprika, preserved lemons, or wherever your tastebuds take you:• Charmoula from The LA TimesTake a look at these recipes for some inspiration for your summer cooking!

We double-plus love chicken wings and have been mixing up your traditional flavor profiles, producing something a bit more spicy. Not as in temperature, but these wings carry flavors reminiscent of other beloved ethnic dishes. They’re sticky and saucy and guaranteed to be a little messy!These wings are great for a party, or even a night in when you’re looking for something unique or special.

This is another recipe I adapted from a Moroccan tagine recipe since I don’t have a tagine. It’s a wonderful stewed chicken dish that’s very good served over couscous or rice.Chicken Stewed with Tomatoes, Cinnamon, and Preserved LemonIngredients:Chicken thighs and drumsticks, about 8 pieces1 onion, chopped4 cloves garlic, minced1 tbsp. coriander seeds2 tsp. paprika2 tsp. oregano1 tbsp. tomato paste1 14-oz.

I recently acquired a lot of meyer lemons from my neighbor’s tree. I can only drink so much lemonade, eat so many lemon pies, and make so much marmalade! So I decided to make preserved lemons, and it was ridiculously easy. Now I have several jars of preserved lemons that I can use in Middle Eastern recipes.Ingredients8 to 10 lemons (I used Meyer, but you can use any regular lemon)Kosher saltEquipment1 quart-sized wide mouth jar with lid1. Sterilize the jar in boiling water for 15 minutes.

A little later today, we are giving you a tutorial for preserved lemons. So, to whet your appetite for that, here is a recipe that uses preserved lemons to full effect: A flavorful Moroccan tagine with chicken, garlic, ginger, olives, saffron and other spices — as well as the tangy, delicious flavor of lemons preserved in salt.This recipe is like a party-fied version of our own Lemon Garlic Chicken. It is a simple recipe, with some exotic ingredients to give it a huge burst of flavor.