Chicken baked with sweet spices and fruity cous cous

I tend to serve this with roasted vegetables that I cook in the same pan as the chicken and some fruity cous cous. It is sweet with honey and smells lovely. It is a wonderfully stress free dinner as once it is in the oven you can forget about it until it is cooked. I chop up the chicken and the veg and stir them into the cous cous for smaller children. Here I have used carrots and onions as these are things I tend to always have in the fridge but you can use any other veg such as peppers, squash or sweet potato, cauliflower, courgettes, turnips, parnsips etc – just prepare them into fair sized chunks as you cook them for quite a while and although a little charring at the edges is nice, you don’t want them to burn to a crisp. I also stir some chopped mango or orange into the cous cous if I am in the mood. I also sometimes add some olives for the last 5 – 10 minutes of cooking. A dollop of minted yoghurt over the top is lovely and a spoonful of harrisa for those who like things spicy.

6 chicken thighs
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of saffron (optional)
2-3cm cube root ginger, peeled and finely diced
½ teaspoon turmeric
2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 orange or lemon cut into quarters
1 tablespoon honey

Cous cous to serve

Preheat the oven to 200C

1.    Place the chicken in a bowl and mix with the oil, ginger and spices

2.    Lay the vegetables and lemon or orange over the bottom of a roasting tin and drizzle with honey

3.    Tuck the chicken pieces among them

4.    Roast in the oven for 30 minutes

5.    Remove the fruit and set aside, return to the oven for another 5 - 10minutes until the chicken is cooked through and golden brown

6.    Meanwhile, make up some cous cous according to the packet instructions (I use veg stock instead of water)

7.    Then, when cool enough to handle, squeeze the juice from the lemon or orange into the cous cous

8.    Serve the roasted veg and chicken over the top of the hot cous cous with any juices