Moroccan Chicken in a Hurry

Cafe Drake often trots out our slow-simmered chicken with pickled lemons and green olives when we run out of dinner ideas, but the version below is much faster and uses far less ingredients (and all easily found at a corner grocer). We paired it on a lazy Sunday night before an awards show (to snack on in front of the TV) with Mustardy Chinese Cabbage and whole wheat couscous. Both recipes below are freely adapted from Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Cookbook, a volume on historical par with The Joy of Cooking.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN WITH LEMON

1 lemon / 1 3-lb chicken, cut in pieces / salt and pepper / 2 T. butter / 1 T. olive oil / 2 scallions, chopped / 1 fresh green chile of your choice / 1 clove garlic, minced / 1 cup chicken stock / 1/4 cup chopped parsley / pinch of oregano

1. Peel lemon and cut into very thin strips. Juice the entire lemon. Reserve all.


2. Heat oil and butter in large skillet and brown chicken on all sides, sprinkling liberally with salt and pepper.


3. Remove chicken once browned to a plate and add scallions, chile and garlic to skillet.


4. Cook for 2 minutes then add chicken stock and scrape all browned bits of goodness from bottom of pan.


5. Reduce liquid by half.


6. Return chicken to skillet and add lemon peel, lemon juice, parsley and oregano.


7. Lower heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

CHINESE CABBAGE WITH MUSTARD

Serve this very, very well chilled.

1 head of Chinese cabbage, chopped coarsely / 2 T. dry mustard powder / 2 T. soy sauce / 2 t. white wine vinegar

1. Boil cabbage in water for 1-2 minutes then drain well.


2. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl and toss in cabbage. Cool then refrigerate for an hour at least.