Moroccan Spice Rubbed Chicken: On getting out of my comfort zone

For LR, CJR, GR, JR - TEXAS TEXAS HERE WE COME!

In a few weeks, I will be doing something I never thought I would do.  I will be boarding a plane with Son and Daughters, and visiting one of my best friends in Texas.  This is epic for me on many levels as I have not traveled using airplanes since 2007, and I have not stayed in a home other than my parents or my own since 2007.  We only travel by car and only between LA and the Bay Area and haven't really done any other travel outside of that.  Son has never been on an airplane, but has asked to ride on one for the past year or so - so this trip is the equivalent of going to outer space for him.  (Never mind it is also my absolute first time going to Texas.)

I'm not exactly sure how it happened.  It all started with my best friend CJR moving to Dallas, Texas.  Although she and I have not lived in the same city since 1999, she was always in California, and I always saw her at least 3 or 4 times a year.  Her moving to Dallas, Texas has suddenly made such meetings near impossible, and in a  moment, when I could tell she was feeling a bit isolated, I promised her that I would come out.  (She is also one of only a very few friends who managed to come and visit me when I was alone in both Hong Kong and Korea.)  I never make such promises, as I truly am not a lover of travel, especially ones that involve Children and airplanes.  I'm just not that keen to be put in a situation where I cannot control certain things. But after making the promise, and CJR's subtle hints that we should begin planning dates, I strapped myself into the proverbial chair and have been getting ready to make this trip happen.

The first insane hurdle was buying airline tickets.  Since I have not done it in so long (and before this, while living in Hong Kong and Korea, we had travel agents who did everything for us) I did not know how long such an act would take.  Purchasing airline tickets for the family took me almost an entire evening (4 hours.)  It was NOT fun.  And it wasn't because I was shopping around for cheaper rates - it was the entire system of trying to book a flight within the continental US that was completely frustrating.  There was a moment when I completely melted down with a reservations agent on the telephone, who informed me that because I was using mileage to buy the adult ticket, the children's tickets HAD to be purchased over the telephone with an additional $20 surcharge PER ticket.  I completely lost my marbles and gave the agent several pieces of advice, including finding a better online system that allowed such allowances to be made....I was not a good person during the last 10 minutes of the phone call. But tickets have been purchased.  (Cheap tickets have been purchased which also means I'm forced to sit in the BACK of the plane.)

Now I'm living through the torture of Son and Daughters asking if TODAY is the day we go to Texas.  Every day.  Each day.  Sometimes more than once.  If I answer, "Not today," the immediate question following is, "Are we going tomorrow?"  I've shown them all the calendar, and Daughter #1 because she is a bit more mature and understanding has stopped asking, but Daughter #2 and Son are RELENTLESS.  I know I'll be woken up tomorrow with Son asking, "Is today the day we go to Texas?"  and when I reply, "No," there may or may not be a temper tantrum.  (First rule - when planning travel, never let the kids know until you're actually ON the way to the airport.)

The next steps have to do with packing and preparing for the flight.  Husband has warned me repeatedly that domestic travel is definitely not a treat compared to international travel (which is what my last experience was.)  He is repeatedly reminding me that the airplane trip will not be any picnic and that I have been forewarned amply.  This is from the man who travels internationally often due to business, so I'm guessing he knows what he's talking about.  I'm bracing myself for the indignity and insanity of it all but hope that calm and reason will win over.  I'm thinking about luggage, how to pack (pay $25 and just take one single bigger piece of luggage or try and take a bunch of carryons and hope that I can manage wheeling those AND managing three children) and I'm thinking about how to feed Son carefully on the plane.

Once I'm in Texas, I know that things are going to be amazing.  I'll be next to and close to one of my best friends and we will laugh like crazy together.  (We really do laugh like crazy together.)  Daughters will be playing with her daughter, and Son will be playing with her son.  I'll be doing some cooking with her and just enjoying the wonderful bond of friendship.  I'll bust out some of my whacky dance moves and practice some of my more outrageous lines on her.  I'll see if I can't get her to laugh so hard tears come from her eyes and I'll try and see if I can't beat her at a game of Settlers.

Hopefully I'll have the chance to meet some of my loyal blog readers who live in Dallas....It'll be more surreal to me than anything - that in a state so far away, before my friend even got there, people were interested in my blog and cooking from it.  The series of thoughts in that is mind boggling and although I am incredibly nervous about meeting these new people, I'm also tremendously excited and happy.

So as I get out of my comfort zone and travel, I decided to get out of my comfort zone a bit for food.  I've been hanging on to a lot of staples these days because Son's allergies have been completely whacko and I've had a few weeks of VERY bad reactions from him.  After really enforcing his diet and controlling what he eats by what I cook, he is much better and all reactions have seemingly stopped.  Which means that I could try some new spices on him. Normally I avoid all seeds and unusual spices for him because I'm not sure of his reaction but I wanted to push him a bit and see how it went.

I've made a two Moroccan chicken dishes before  (here and here).  But I also wanted to try something a bit different and use the chicken on the bone, as the bone in chicken just tastes so much richer and more delicious.  I came up with a spice mixture and rubbed it on the chicken - and I have to say that this is one of Children's FAVORITE dishes.  They kept chanting their famous "more chicken" number and shoveling it in their mouths as fast as they could.  I made basically this couscous, but used Israeli couscous because that was what I had in the pantry and the kids loved it as well. I served it with a side of roasted green beans. 

Son didn't have a reaction, a ton of chicken was eaten and I feel more excitement than agitation about my trip away.

The ingredient list may be a bit daunting, but all it is rubbing the spices all over the chicken.  The cooking method is as easy as can be.

Moroccan Spiced Chicken
Serves 5-6

2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cloves
1 teaspoon cayenne (2 teaspoons if you like it spicy)
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons fennel seed
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
5 T of olive oil
8 garlic cloves, crushed
3-4 lb chicken, cut up (You can butcher it yourself or buy a precut pack - Trader Joe's has this really great pack of 2 breasts, 3 legs, and 3 thighs that I love to use)
1 onion, cut into wedges

Mix all the ingredients except the chicken and onion together, creating a rich marinade. Add the chicken and onions and rub spice mixture all over and let chicken absorb flavors for at least 30 minutes - longer does make it taste better. I like to mix this up the day before or the morning of the cooking and allow it to flavor the chicken and then cook it when ready later in the day.

Preheat oven 500. Line a heavy roasting pan with aluminum foil. Lay chicken in a single layer, skin side up. (If your chicken is coming directly out of the fridge after having been sitting in the spice mixture, I'd recommend letting the chicken warm up a bit, about 15 minutes before putting it in the oven.)

Roast in the middle of the oven until skin is crispy and browned and chicken is fully cooked, 30-40 minutes.

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