Wine-Poached Chicken with Charmoula

Does anyone remember Martha Stewart's Healthy Quick Cook? It was published in 1997, and I’m not sure how popular it was. I got a copy when it first appeared and cooked from it frequently. I remember trying the vegetable handrolls, the hot and sour broth with shredded chicken, the apricot-glazed chicken, the warm wheatberry salad, and the sage egg-white frittata, and all were delicious. Also, the open-faced seared tuna burger with wasabi mayonnaise became a much-repeated favorite of ours. Then, for some reason, the book sat untouched for years. Last week, I wanted to plan some light meals with fresh flavors for the weekend, and I finally opened this book again. It’s divided into seasons, and 13 entire menus are presented for each. What I chose was actually from the spring section, but I think it worked fine as a summer meal. The complete menu was: wine-poached chicken with charmoula and couscous, chopped salad with tarragon vinaigrette, and Moroccan pudding, but I only made the chicken, charmoula, and couscous. This was my first time making charmoula which is a Moroccan sauce or marinade used on fish or meat. It’s spicy, packed with fresh herbs, and was just the kind of thing I wanted for dinner.

This particular recipe for charmoula, as I’m sure there are infinite variations, was very simple. Garlic was minced, parsley and cilantro leaves were finely chopped, and all of that was mixed with cumin, paprika, cayenne, lemon juice, olive oil, tomato juice, and salt and pepper. That was easily prepared in the time it took for chicken breasts to poach in white wine with black peppercorns and cilantro sprigs. The couscous recipe in the book included only turmeric as an added ingredient, but I chose to stir in some baby spinach leaves and sauteed, sliced garlic as well. Since experiencing the best couscous ever earlier this year, I had to mimic it with the sauteed garlic. This time, I used a scant bit of olive oil for sauteing rather than half a stick of butter and used whole wheat couscous, but it still had great flavor.

I always like what happens in a sauce when tomato juice is combined with lemon, and the charmoula offered that zing along with bold spice and fresh herbs. The raw garlic mixed into the other flavors well and didn’t dominate as it so often does. I was perfectly happy with the poached chicken and its simplicity, but Kurt informed me that while it was fine, he prefers the texture of grilled chicken. He'd never mentioned that before. Coming to think of it, he may be becoming pickier about food than I am. We did both agree the sauce was excellent and would love to try it with grilled fish next.

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