Sunday roasted chicken

There are few things I like better in this life than a nicely brown roast chicken for Sunday dinner. Yesterday, I bagged a nice air chilled Rocky from the fresh meat counter at Whole Foods, and this morning dressed it with a paste of onions, garlic, Moroccan preserved lemons, anchovy and olives.

Here’s the baby in the oven:

Don’t you love the glass oven doors? It’s such cheap entertainment.

Anyway, here’s the lowdown on the marinating paste:

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Pan grilled cod two ways. Simple. Delicious. Healthy.

We adore fresh cod here at Rancho Maven. It’s not unusual to have it at least once a week, and I’ve been seeing nice fresh whole and filleted cod of all sorts in the fishmongers counter at the local Whole Foods. I bought a whole Rock Cod the other day that was wonderful in a seafood based stew and I’ll be back after some yummy Ling Cod that I noticed.

Cod is so wonderful since you can cook it so many different ways. I love it as part of a boullabaise, a stew like cioppino or a gumbo … or grilled over a smokey fire outdoors, or grilled in my speed oven. I’m going to try this pan grilling technique soon.

The preserved lemon used in these recipes is a very unique flavor that you can’t really substitute for. Whole Foods in Reno has gorgeous preserved lemons in their olive bar. I usually pick up 2-3 and keep them in the refrigerator since they will last at least a month.

I like to serve fish like this with some sauteed greens like swiss chard and a few boiled Yukon gold potatoes or some brown rice.

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Grilled Harissa wild caught halibut

Alright, I’ve been threatened with bodily harm if I don’t put this on the blog. Yes, it was just that freaking good. As usual, it was something I made up on the fly, so I’d better do it now, or I’ll never remember the recipe.

Mr. Maven came home from Costco today with a giant slab of fresh, line caught halibut. So, I asked myself “self … what will you do with this fine piece of fish?”

Moroccan always comes to mind.

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North African Baked Chicken

I hadn’t really planned on putting this on the blog, but my dinner guests have insisted. Since it disappeared in record time last night, I guess it was a ‘hit’.

Years ago, I dated a great Persian guy for the longest time, and his mother was one of the best cooks I’ve ever known. She and I would actually do marathon, multiple day cooking fests for parties that were absolutely incredible. I tell you this, because some of the influences that I learned in Monir’s kitchen find their way into dishes like the following, which I sort of made up on the fly last night. This dish has both Moroccan and Tunisian influences.

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