A lovely weekend lunch or dinner, roast the chicken, prep. the cous cous, add on a few more salads, like tomato & basil, crisp cucumber with yogurt & mint, then everyone can help themselves as they wish, this is the way I want to eat in the summer, delicious food but no fuss.
Serves 4
1.5kg free range chicken
1 lemon
handful of mint
4/5 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons Ras el hanout
sea salt and black pepper
olive oil
apricot cous
200g cous cous
200g stock or water
100g soft apricots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Ras el hanout
rind and juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and black pepper
Start with the chicken, set the oven 200g gas mark 6
Place the chicken on a roasting tin, cut the lemon into wedges, squeeze the juice over the chicken, tuck the wedges into the cavity, with the mint, season with Ras el hanout, salt and black pepper & olive oil, roast in the preset oven for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, check with the probe 75c.
Meantime make up the cous cous, the secret to perfect fluffy cous cous is to have the cous cous weight and liquid weight exactly the same. place the cous cous in a large bowl, boil the stock or water, pour it over the cous cous, add in the apricots, Ras el hanout, lemon juice, rind, & seasoning. Cover tightly with cling wrap and leave for 15 minutes. Then fork up, taste for seasoning, add a little extra olive if necessary.
When you are ready to serve, tip the cous cous on to a large serving plate. Divide the chicken into 8 pieces, place on the cous cous. Spoon over the remaining roasting juices, a few extra mint leaves and bring to the table.