MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP

Mellow greens, such as leaf lettuces, as well as spinach, pair nicely with this vinaigrette. Olives, shredded carrots, and golden raisins are good garnish options. Use about 2 tablespoons of this dressing per quart of greens, serving two.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We built our salad dressing recipes around ingredients not regularly used in dressings, including apples, raisins, carrot juice, and ruby port. We balanced these ingredients with fats such as cream, buttermilk, mayonnaise, nut oils, and yogurt and punctuated the dressings with condiments such as chili paste and orange marmalade. To give our dressing recipes more depth and intensity of flavor, we turned to the stovetop to reduce wine and juices and toast spices and sesame seeds.

Serves 4

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We captured the flavors of Morocco without buying out the spice aisle by rubbing bone-in chicken breasts with ground cumin and pumpkin pie spice, a blend of warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. While the spice-scented chicken baked, we prepared a hearty five-minute couscous studded with fruit, chickpeas, and olives.

Serves 4 to 6

If the carrots have very narrow tips, trim the thin ends; they scorch easily.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Roasting is one of the best approaches to maximize the sweet, earthy flavor of carrots. The high heat caramelizes the carrots’ sugars and browns the exteriors, ideally leaving the interiors tender and moist. For the best approach to roasting carrots, we cooked the carrots hot and fast. The intense heat promoted rapid caramelization, which, in turn, kept the interiors moist.

SERVES 4

Bone-in chicken parts can be substituted for the whole chicken. For best results, use four chicken thighs and two chicken breasts, each breast split in half; the dark meat contributes valuable flavor to the broth and should not be omitted. Use a vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of zest from the lemon before juicing it. Make sure to trim any white pith from the zest, as it can impart bitter flavor. Serve with couscous (see related recipe).

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For the depth and flavor of an authentic tagine in about one hour, we developed a Moroccan chicken recipe that followed our standard braised chicken procedure: browning the skin-on pieces to give the braising liquid deep flavor; removing the chicken from the pot; sautéing onion, strips of lemon zest, garlic, and a spice blend (paprika, cumin, cayenne, ginger, coriander, and cinnamon) in a little oil; adding chicken broth and honey; and finally returning the chicken to the pot.

SERVES 4

Use a vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of zest from the lemon before juicing it. Make sure to trim any white pith from the zest, as it can impart bitter flavor. If the olives are particularly salty, give them a rinse. Serve with couscous.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For the depth and flavor of an authentic tagine in about one hour, we developed a Moroccan chicken breast recipe that followed our standard braised chicken procedure: browning the skin-on pieces to give the braising liquid deep flavor; removing the chicken from the pot; sautéing onion, strips of lemon zest, garlic, and a spice blend (paprika, cumin, cayenne, ginger, coriander, and cinnamon) in a little oil; adding chicken broth and honey; and finally returning the chicken to the pot.

Serves 4 to 6

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Couscous, granules of semolina, traditionally serves as a sauce absorber under stews and braises, but it can also be a quick and flavorful side dish for a variety of foods. We wanted to develop a classic version for saucy dishes as well as a handful of flavor-packed versions, as convenient as the boxed kind, but much fresher tasting. Toasting the couscous grains in butter deepened their flavor and helped them cook up fluffy and separate. And to bump up the flavor even further, we replaced half of the cooking liquid with chicken broth. For our enriched variations, dried fruit, nuts, and citrus juice added textural interest and sweet, bright notes.

Serves 4

Bone-in chicken parts can be substituted for the whole chicken. For best results, use four chicken thighs and two chicken breasts, each breast split in half; the dark meat contributes valuable flavor to the broth and should not be omitted. Use a vegetable peeler to remove wide strips of zest from the lemon before juicing it. Make sure to trim any white pith from the zest, as it can impart bitter flavor. If the olives are particularly salty, give them a rinse. Serve with couscous (see related recipe).

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Time-consuming techniques and esoteric ingredients make cooking authentic Moroccan chicken a daunting proposition. We wanted a recipe that was ready in an hour and relied on supermarket staples. For depth and flavor, we used a mix of white and dark chicken and browned the meat first. After removing the chicken from the pot, we sautéed onion, strips of lemon zest, garlic, and a spice blend in the leftover brown bits and some oil; this ensured that no flavor went to waste. A number of everyday spices were necessary to recreate the authentic notes in Moroccan chicken, including paprika, cumin, cayenne, ginger, coriander, and cinnamon; honey contributed a missing sweetness. Greek green olives provided the meatiness and piquant flavor of hard-to-find Moroccan olives. Chopped cilantro, stirred in right before serving, was the perfect finishing touch to our exotic dinner.