Chermoula Chicken with Orange Wild Rice

This incredibly flavorful dish with Moroccan and Indian flair is also super healthy! Packed with a bouquet of flavors, citrus, herbs, and textures; this plate has it all! An adventure for your tastebuds ! …and, did I mention?… It’s healthy!

Another holiday season is behind us, and so is the excuse behind hearty comfort food and endless desserts. It’s back to treating my body like temple and not like a tent. As I begin my training to run my first 100 mile ultra marathon, I know training is only half the battle. The right diet is the other side of the coin. However, I can’t just abandon flavor and why sanity to bland imitations of my favorite foods  

Side note: I’m totally cool with turkey bacon. Not as a substitute for bacon but as an improvement on turkey. Moving on…

Not so long ago I made the discovery of this incredible marinade/sauce/dip/catch-all ingredient called chermoula. Chermoula is a Moroccan sauce that can be used with just about anything. I like to make up a big batch, use some for dinner and freeze up the rest in ice cube trays for future recipes. Here’s one such recipe…

Chermoula Chicken and Orange Wild Rice

Ingredients:

•4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts 

•1C Chermoula sauce, divided

•1T tandoori masala spice

•1C wild rice

•1 medium red onion diced

•1 yellow bell pepper diced

•2C spinach chopped

•1/4-1/2C pistachios shelled. Lightly salted is ok, roughly chopped

•2tsp olive oil divided

•zest and juice from one orange, organic is best

Directions:

1. Marinade chicken in 3/4C of the chermoula sauce and place in fridge for at least 2 hours or for best results overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium saucepan heat 1tsp olive oil and tandoori masala spice mix until aromatic. Add wild rice and cook until rice begins to toast lightly. Add zest and orange juice plus enough water to cook as directed on rice package. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer. Add spinach about 2 minutes before rice is done cooking.
3. Toss onion and bell pepper with 1tsp olive oil and place with chicken in foil envelope. Bake in oven until internal temperature of 165°F, approximately 30-40 minutes.
4. Serve chicken, peppers, and onions over rice, cover with remaining sauce, and sprinkle with pistachios.