Moroccan Chicken and Olives

I absolutely love olives but tend to think of them as a food eaten separately, or atop salads.  However every time I adventure out and put them into meat dishes I’m always amazed at what they bring to the final dish.  This was yet another example of a tasty surprise for me.  Since they have a lot of olive trees on the shores of the Mediterranean, they do tend to use them in a variety of ways.  

The Baharat spice blend I chose for this dish is also prevalent in this region.  So I put 2 and 2 together and voilà, a dish to remember!  If you haven’t tried it yet, I think you’ll like this spice on chicken.  I highly encourage you to give this blend a try sometime, even if not on this particular dish.    It was incredible on the chicken tonight and it’s great on baked or grilled fish.  The cinnamon and cloves come through the most, but the other spices in the blend have a subtle flavor presence as well.  The spice here is the key flavor ingredient here so I would not encourage substitutions or you will be creating a totally different dish.   This meal is suitable for Atkins Induction, Keto diets, and Primal-Paleo lifestyles as well.  Be sure to use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil for this recipe.  

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium chicken thighs

3 medium chicken drumsticks

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. my Baharat Spice Blend  (the key flavor, so don’t substitute)

4 oz. purple onion, sliced lengthwise

3 plum tomatoes, each cut into 4 wedges

24 medium black olives

Dash each salt and pepper

VARIATION:   Substitute my Moroccan Spice Blend for the Baharat Spice mentioned in the ingredients.  Makes a slightly spicier final dish.  🙂  

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 425º.  Place olive oil, Baharat spice and minced garlic in a pan large enough to hold your chicken without any crowding.  Stir it well.  Take each piece of chicken and dip each side into the oil mixture.  Rub or baste each piece all over well.  Evenly space the pieces skin-side up in the pan.  Cut the tomatoes into wedges and space them evenly around the chicken in the pan, trying not to cover the pieces of chicken.  If covered, the juice from the tomato will inhibit browning of the skin.

Next place the olives evenly around the chicken pieces.   Lastly, separate the slivers of onion and spread them all around the chicken.  Dip a basting brush into the olive oil mixture and baste the olives and vegetables with the oil (add more oil if needed).  Lightly sprinkle with the salt and pepper.  Pop into a preheated hot 425º oven and bake for about 1 hour, re-basting at 30 minutes cooking time to be sure the vegetables don’t dry out.   I served this with buttered, steamed asparagus.  It would also be good with a Greek salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 adult servings (serving = 1 drumstick + 1 thigh).  Each serving contains:

438 cals, 32g fat, 8.26g carbs, 2.26g fiber, 6g NET CARBS, 29.8g protein, 742 mg sodium