The best dinner dish is one that makes you feel like you are being hugged from the inside out, and those meals are usually one part comfort food, one part elegance, and one part spice. In these winter months, the spicier the dish, the more indulgently warm and welcome they are. For this Moroccan chicken recipe from Tara Kitchen, the make-up employs preserved lemons and olives with raisins and spices for its opening flavor and kick.
Opening up with a more lasting and resonant warmth, the Moroccan spice mix Ras El Hanout lends it a complex heat and sparkle, with some additional cumin, coriander and black pepper adding another layer of flavor to the mix. This is the ideal winter comfort food meal – hearty and spicy, but not overtly hot, with delicious pops and accents of acidity with the preserved lemons and olives, tempered beautifully by the handful of raisins and some fresh parsley.
Certain dishes dispel the cold and darkness of winter, and I’ve already made this one twice in as many days because it does that so well.
