Tunisian Spice-Roasted Chicken

I am not the biggest fan of chicken.  It's not that I never like it, but I do have issues with it.  The boys love chicken, so I try every now and again to serve them their beloved legs and thighs.  I got this recipe from Food and Wine.  As always, Food and Wine delivered a tasty recipe.  The chicken was really juicy.  I did take out all the pieces but the thighs after the 45 minutes and the thighs I wrapped in foil and cooked a bit longer since they were only at 145.  I make one other deviation regarding the dried chipotle in the Harous recipe.  I couldn't find them and I kept forgetting to order some online, so I used dried chipotle powder.  I went light too just in case; I used a little over a teaspoon.  We all enjoyed the dish.  The boys remarked on how much they liked the skin.  Next time I would use more of the harous (perhaps because of my chipotle switch up??) because it wasn't really spicy.  It would also be nice to use up more than 1.5 tsp of the 1.5 cups the recipe made.  All in all a winning dish:).



Tunisian Spice-Roasted Chicken
  
1 1/2 Lb red potatoes cut into 2-inch pieces
One 4-pound chicken cut into 8 pieces
1/4 Cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tsp ground coriander
1 Tsp ground cumin
1/2 Tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 Tsp Harous (recipe below)
Large pinch of saffron threads crushed into 2 tablespoons water
Salt
1 Lb green bell peppers cut into 1/2-inch strips
2 Lb plum tomatoes quartered lengthwise
1 lemon thinly sliced
Preheat the oven to 400. In a medium saucepan of boiling water, cook the
potatoes until barely tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
In a bowl, toss the chicken pieces with the olive oil, ground spices,
Harous, saffron water and a pinch of salt. Add the potatoes and toss.
Transfer to a roasting pan and roast until the chicken is cooked through
and the potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a
platter and keep warm.
Mix the green peppers, tomatoes and lemon slices into the potatoes.
Roast, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are tender, about 20
minutes.
Preheat the broiler. Arrange the chicken pieces on the vegetables, skin
side up, and broil 4 inches from the heat until the skin is browned and
crisp, about 1 minute. Transfer the chicken and vegetables to the
platter, drizzle with the pan juices and serve.

Harous
1 medium onion very thinly sliced
Pinch of turmeric
2 Tbl kosher salt
4 ancho chiles stemmed and seeded
3 dried chipotle chiles stemmed and seeded
1/2 Tsp ground coriander
1/2 Tsp ground caraway seeds
1/2 Tsp freshly ground pepper
Pinch of cinnamon
3 Tbl extra-virgin olive oil
In a shallow bowl, toss the onion slices with the turmeric and salt.
Cover the onion with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room
temperature.
Meanwhile, heat a cast-iron skillet until hot to the touch. Add the
anchos and chipotles and toast over moderate heat, pressing lightly with
a spatula until the chiles are very pliable and fragrant, about 1 minute.
Transfer the chiles to a work surface and let cool completely, then
tear them into 1-inch pieces. In a spice grinder, coarsely grind the
chiles.
Drain the onion slices in a strainer, pressing hard to extract as much
liquid as possible. Transfer the onions to a food processor and pulse
until pureed. Add the ground chiles, coriander, caraway, pepper and
cinnamon and process to a paste. With the machine on, gradually add the
olive oil and puree until fairly smooth.~

Make Ahead
The harous can be refrigerated for up to 6 months.
Serve With Tunisian Spice-Roasted Chicken