Spanish Moroccan braised chicken | Recipe of the week by Lawrence Murphy

Similarly, this dish is influenced by southern Spanish cooking which uses spices and herbs from Morocco.

The two countries have been swapping produce, methods, and ideas for centuries.

This braised, lightly-spiced chicken dish has a thin yet full-flavoured sauce, mopped up with steamed couscous. Use chicken thighs with the skin on. They become tender and flavour the sauce as they braise.

Ingredients (serves 4)

8 chicken thighs

2 tablespoons olive oil

Tablespoon sherry vinegar

Teaspoon cumin seed

1 red chilli finely chopped

150ml white wine

300ml chicken stock

Dessertspoon tomato paste

6 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 large onion finely chopped

2 long red peppers deseeded and chopped

Method

1. Heat a frying pan, adding one tablespoon of olive oil, then the chicken thighs, brown all over.

2. Add the sherry vinegar to deglaze the pan.

3. Heat a casserole dish and add the remaining olive oil - add the cumin seed and cook for 1 min.

4. Add onion, garlic and chilli and cook for 2 mins. Stir in the tomato paste and the red pepper cook for 2 mins.

5. Pour in the white wine and chicken stock, bring to a simmer and add the chicken thighs.

6. Cover and cook in a pre-heated oven 150c, gas 3 for 1 hour 30 mins.

7. Taste, season and serve with couscous​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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