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 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 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 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 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 TO 6 AS A SIDE DISH

For the fluffiest texture, use a large fork to fluff the grains; a spoon or spatula would destroy the light texture. Specialty markets may carry couscous of varying size, but stick to the classic kind. Other sizes require different cooking methods.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For the fluffiest texture, we used a large fork to fluff the grains in our couscous recipe; a spoon or spatula would have destroyed the light texture. Specialty markets may carry couscous of varying size, but we stuck to the classic kind for our couscous pilaf recipe since other sizes require different cooking methods.

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

Serve the salad with the crisp inner leaves of romaine lettuce and wedges of pita bread.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To keep our tabbouleh from becoming too soggy, we salted the tomatoes to rid them of their excess moisture. But to make sure that our tabbouleh recipe still guaranteed the fresh flavor we wanted, we soaked the bulgur wheat in some of the tomato liquid and lemon juice instead of in the flavor-robbing water found in most tabbouleh recipes.