Moroccan Chicken with Olives & Lemon

This was Moroccan chicken.

I made a very similar dish before. This time I adapted a recipe from Cooks Illustrated's May 2006 issue with small changes. I used boneless skinless thighs to avoid handling a whole chicken or buying a mix of white meat and dark meat. Plus without bone, easy to eat and less mess. I added extra carrot to increase veggie population in the dish. I didn't add raisin because I was going to add raisin into couscous that would be serviced with the chicken. And I skipped making lemon zest - garlic paste mixture that was supposed to be added in the pot at the end. It was not a big matter because there was already a good amount of garlic that was nicely cooked with onion and simmered in the pot. But I added some freshly grated lemon zest along with fresh lemon juice at the end although there was already some lemon zest in the pot. I simply don't like raw garlic but love lemon. That's all.    

My easy raisin and almond couscous took only 6 minutes to cook. The dish was splendid with a exquisite balance of vivid flavors.

Aha! A lot of carrot! J won't know my secret modification of veggie ratio. On the contrary, he said this was the BEST of Moroccan chicken. Happy to hear that!