Chicken 3 ways 2/3 - Shakshouka & couscous

For my first post for almost a year, I am lucky - The supermarket reduced section was pretty kind to me the other day - I have a bucket load of Mediterranean grains and veg.






First onto the fork is some couscous "salad" - I'm aiming to eat these mass-produced edible-constructions first, before I play around with them afterwards...

Wasn't great in it's raw state...

*munch*
What I can say for this couscous is that the peppers and chilli it comes with are punchy, but these grains are as dry as the Sahara, and need some sauce if they are to be some form of dinner.

I have been wanting to make this next dish for a while, as I've eaten its Basque cousin Piperade, which is delicious.  

Shakshouka or chakchouka, is an Arab / Mediterranean / Middle Eastern dish of baked eggs, tomato, peppers, onions / other vegetables, and spices.  I've added some leftover chicken drumsticks into the mix as this is normally a breakfast dish served with breads but it's my supper tonight.  I think lots of tomatoes will help rescue the couscous, and what's not to like about everything else, so this recipe should be perfect.

  There's a very comprehensive article here about shakshouka; I've read it, understood it, but I'm going to adapt it to my circumstances.

Ingredients - per person

2 eggs
1 orange (bell) pepper
Lots of tomatoes - 4 salad, 12 cherry is what I used.  
1/2 a small onion
1 chicken breast / drumstick / thigh, cooked*  

* This addition is non-standard but I promised recipes about how to use a whole chicken, and it worked...

About 250g couscous, fresh steamed is probably better.  
A little olive oil, maybe about 2 tsps.
Spices
 - cumin or curry powder
 - harissa paste - today's store cupboard rescue.  £3.50 for the harissa but that'll    add flavour until next March.  Dot that liberally over the ingredients.  
 - pimentón - another store cupboard staple for me.  Hot, dry, spicy, tasty.  
 - 1 + 1/2 cloves of garlic, smashed up with salt.  Poke the  cloves into the tomatoes

Method.

In a casserole or ovenproof dish, lay down the couscous, and add the chopped onions, tomatoes, peppers and garlic over the top of it.  Put into a low oven for an hour, at about 160°C.  
Allow to cool.

Chop the chicken up into rough chunks, almost like "pulled" chicken.
Add a tsp of cumin/ curry powder, 1 or 2 of harissa and half a tsp of pimentón or your nearest equivalent chilli powder,  over the top of the veg and couscous saucery.

Now then - make 2 wells / hollows / spaces in the dish under the couscous & veg, and crack the eggs into them.

Turn the oven back on to about 140°C and leave the eggs to bake for about 20-30 minutes.  Timing's not important, but keep your eye on your oven.  You want the eggs soft and slightly runny, but not underdone.

Hopefully this long slow process will give you slow roasted veg and wobbly baked eggs, and I'm hoping the couscous will not be as dry as it was thanks to all those tomatoes.... but let's see...




*munch*

You can't see the eggs here but I'll take a photo of the leftovers with more baked eggs as it was good enough for me to make again.

The harissa dotted about lifts this into the stratosphere of taste highlights - fiery but flowery.  I am also very pleased with how the juices from the roasted tomatoes have rescued the store bought couscous.  The leftover chicken has absorbed a lot of the tomato as well, and is a nice addition of texture and flavour.  One more way to use your entire chicken, done.

  As for the baked eggs, they are a real treat - absolutely lovely.  But the number one key to the dish, I reckon,  is the cumin / curry powder, just scattered over the top.  

I'm having seconds, and I'll post a photo of them later in the week.