Chicken with olives and dates Recipe

Ingredients

• 1200 g chicken (½ chicken)
• For the marinade:
• 80 g honey, runny
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 50 ml olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 big onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 40 g butter
• 4 tsp Ras el Hanout spice blend*
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 240 ml water
• 130 g green olives, without pits, halved
• 6 dates, without pits, chopped

Directions

1.

In a bowl, whisk the honey, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika together.

2.

Pour it over the chicken and let it marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

3.

Sauté, over a medium flame, onion and garlic in olive oil and butter for about 3 - 4 minutes.

4.

Add Ras el Hanout and cayenne pepper. Stir until fragrant.

5.

Add water, halved olives and chopped dates, and cook covered for 20 minutes. Uncover the pan and let the sauce reduce until thickened and syrupy. Set aside.

6.

Meanwhile, take the chicken out of marinade and arrange it on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 210 °C for 30 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 180 °C and cook for another 20 minutes until the skin is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through.

7.

Serve with olive and date sauce over Basmati rice.

*If you don't have it, whisk your own version: blend equal parts of ground cinnamon, cumin,ground coriander, ground ginger, ground turmeric, saffron and ground cardamom.