Another Nice Moroccan Chicken Recipe

In looking for a recipe to use some leftover dates with couscous and leftover rotisserie chicken from Publix, I found a nice Moroccan chicken and couscous recipe at food.com (http://www.food.com/recipe/moroccan-chicken-121929). It is easy to prepare - a total of about 40-50 minutes of prep and cooking time. It serves two. (I'm not sure how authentic it is, but it sure tastes good.)

I made a couple of changes:
- The recipe calls for a pound of cut up boneless chicken breast. I had about half a pound of mostly breast meat on a whole rotisserie chicken. The chicken was Bourbon Maple chicken. That flavoring was primarily on the skin, which I removed.
- The recipe called for two tablespoons of flour, but did not say how to use it, so I eliminated it. That did not seem to affect the terrific flavor. (I assume this was for dredging to better coat the chicken. I'll probably do it next time to see the difference.)
- the couscous called for 1& 1/4 cups water. I used 1 cup chicken broth (The RiceSelect brand Moroccan-style couscous I use calls for 1 cup of liquid per 1 cup of couscous.) The chicken broth adds flavor.

(The food.com article also included a salad recipe, which I did not use.)

Ingredients

a. For chicken

- 1 lb boneless chicken breast, cut up
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste (I used 1/8)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 3/4 cup chicken broth

b. For couscous

- 1&1/4 cups water (I used 1 cup chicken broth.)
- 1 cup couscous
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup chopped dates or 1/4 cup raisins (I imagine that other dried fruits like apricots or cranberries would work nicely.)
- 1 tablespoon capers

Directions

a. Chicken

- Combine chicken and all spices (I assume now that "all spices" includes the flour.)
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet and put in the chicken-spice mixture. (I used medium heat.) Cook 5 minutes, then transfer the chicken into a bowl.
- Pour the orange juice and 3/4 cup of chicken broth into the skillet.
- Let the sauce reduce.
- When it thickens, put the chicken back into the skillet and cook until done - 7 to 10 minutes.

b. Couscous

1. Put the liquid (water or broth), couscous, bay leaves, dried fruit, and capers into a saucepan, and bring to a boil. (I do this differently. I first put the liquid in the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then I put in the other ingredients.)

2. When the saucepan ingredients reach the boiling point, remove the pan from the heat and cover. The couscous is done when all the liquid is absorbed. (If you do it my way, put in the other ingredients when the liquid reaches the boiling point. Then remove from heat and cover. Done this way, it takes about 4-5 minutes for the liquid to absorb.)

3. (Added by me) After the couscous is ready, fluff it with a fork and mix the ingredients well. Remove the bay leaves. You can now serve the chicken and couscous. Depending on your preferences, you can put the chicken on the couscous or alongside it.