{Moroccan Chicken With Saffron Honey Jam}

I pick up recipes from all over the place, once I was sitting waiting in a noodle shop and ripped an orange and date scone recipe out of the saturday newspaper, a little boy waiting with his dad made a big song and dance about it and rightly so. 

I now employ spy like techniques to remove recipes covertly. This one came out of a book, not a cook book but a fiction book, no I didn't rip it out, I copied it out before returning the book and I am glad I went to the trouble because this is a such a beautiful dish, its so fragrant the saffron honey jam is divine, I don't know about you but I have orange blossom water in my pantry because I live close to a middle eastern market, if you don't you could use orange juice but up the amount to about a tbsp, this is lovely dinner for two.

...the dish

500g chicken thighs

s+p

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, large dice

3 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tsp baharat spice mix

400g tin diced tomatoes

3/4 cup chicken stock

pinch of saffron threads

2 1/2 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp orange blossom water

handful toasted flaked almonds

handful coriander

cous cous to serve

Cut the thighs in half and season with s+p, brown them in the olive oil using a casserole dish or frypan with a lid, once brown remove to a plate and add the onion into the oil, cook it till its soft and starting to colour then add in the garlic and baharat, cook for a few minutes then tip in the tin of tomatoes and let it simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally, while that's simmering add the saffron to the hot stock, once the five minutes is up add the stock to the pot and then the chicken and any juices from the resting plate, simmer gently for half an hour.

Remove the chicken pieces to a bowl and cover. Bring the sauce to the boil and reduce for ten minutes till quite thick, next add in the honey and reduce for a further ten minutes till its really jammy, then add in the orange blossom water and return the chicken cooking for a few more minutes to warm it thru.

Serve on cous cous scattered with the toasted almonds and coriander.