Moroccan Inspired Roast Chicken and Vegetable Salad

This week I thought I should probably look at posting a recipe that wasn’t a. Christmas themed or b. a dessert. I have to try particularly hard to get excited for blogging about things that aren’t treats. But luckily I tried out an excellent recipe for dinner that I just had to share.

Sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to cook a nice meal when you get home from work, particularly if it’s a late one. I usually end up going to my staple recipes rather than looking up something to cook due to time restraints. But I think this little blogging project is really helping me to actually utilise the recipe stores that I’ve been building up on Pinterest.

I decided tonight that a nice salad was in order. It’s been quite muggy in Brisbane, plus my whole family is eating quite healthy at the moment, so I needed something fast, healthy and delicious. And I found this great recipe for a Moroccan chicken salad. I ended up altering it a little as my family is using a particular diet cookbook currently, but you can have a look at the link if you would like to see the full original recipe. I decided to stray from the recipe cookbook mainly because I felt the way the recipe I had on Pinterest cooked the chicken and the vegetables they used were better. I also didn’t have all the ingredients for either recipe, so I decided to just chuck together something based on what I had on hand. But feel free to do whatever you feel. I will present to you my hybrid version of the two, which was actually really delicious.

This recipe creates a nice fresh salad with some delicious roast vegetables and roast chicken. The chicken was juicy, and both the roast vegetables and the chicken had a great flavour. If you are really time poor you could fry off the chicken, but I found by the time you had roasted the vegetables the chicken was cooked perfectly. You might also want to add more chicken, or a grain such as quinoa or cous cous if you are looking for something with more substance. As I said, our family is dieting and so the portions are a little less than what you might eat.

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   Moroccan Inspired Roast Chicken and Vegetable Salad

   Prep Time

   10 mins

   Cook Time

   30 mins

   Total Time

   40 mins

    

   Course: Dinner

   Servings: 4 people

   Author: Ella Eats

   Ingredients

   Spice Mix

   • 1 Teaspoon of Ground Cumin
   • 1 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger
   • ½ Teaspoon of Salt
   • ¾ Teaspoon of Black Pepper
   • ½ Teaspoon of Ground Coriander
   • ½ Teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper
   • ½ Teaspoon of Ground Allspice
   • ¼ Teaspoon of Ground Cloves

   The Salad

   • 400 g of Chicken Breast cut into 4 100g Portions
   • 1 Medium Sweet Potato Peeled, and cut into medium diced pieces (small enough to be put in a salad
   • 4 Carrots chopped into chunks (I made these a similar size to my sweet potato pieces)
   • 40 g of Olive Oil
   • 2 Cups of Baby Spinach
   • The Juice of One Lemon
   • A Cup of Chopped Coriander Leaves
   • Greek Yoghurt to Serve

   Instructions

   1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius/430 Fahrenheit.

   2. To make the spice mix, put all the spices into a large bowl. Mix these together and then take about half of the mix and put it in another, smaller bowl. 

   3. Pop the chopped carrots and sweet potato into the large bowl, along with half of the olive oil. Mix with your hands until all the vegetables are coated with the oil and spice mix.
   4. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the vegetables out on the tray evenly. Place in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.
   5. Get your chicken pieces and place in the second bowl, along with the spice mix and the rest of the olive oil. Mix the chicken around until it is coated with the oil and spice mix evenly.
   6. Get another tray and line with baking paper. Place the chicken out on the tray, ensuring it is evenly spread. I spooned any of the remaining spice mixture out onto the chicken.

   7. Place chicken in the oven alongside the vegetables for the remaining 25 minutes of the cook time (Depending on your pieces, you may want to give them more or less time. This was perfect for mine, but I would recommend checking constantly). Make sure half way through the time you turn the chicken over and stir the vegetables to ensure even cooking. 

   8. Meanwhile, get a salad bowl and place the baby spinach, coriander leaves and the lemon into this. Mix to combine and so that the lemon juice coats the salad (If you would like to add some olive oil to this feel free). Split the salad across 4 bowls evenly.

   9. Once the 30 minutes is up, get your chicken and vegetables out of the oven. Cut the thickest piece of chicken with a knife to check if it is completely cooked through. If it isn’t, throw it back in the oven for a few more minutes. If it is, you are ready to serve. 

   10. Place the carrots and sweet potato over the top of each of the 4 salads, ensuring each salad has an equal amount.
   11. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces on a chopping board, and spread evenly amongst the bowls.

   12. Serve with yoghurt drizzled over the top of the salad, which you can then mix through the leaves as you go. 

The result of this was a quick (30 minutes cook time and only about 10 minutes of prep), fresh and healthy weeknight meal. The chicken and vegetables had a crust of delicious spices, which gave a little kick. But the addition of yoghurt really balanced this, as well as the lemon dressing. If you are looking for something that will make you feel super good after you have eaten it, look no further than this recipe!

Until next time, happy cooking!

Ella