Calendula Chicken and Fresh Herb Tabouleh

by The Garden

Since the medieval banquet in June, we’ve been feasting like royalty on the leftovers fare. Just this week we took the Torta Bianca from the freezer and it was as good as when we drizzled the eau de rose on it straight from the oven! But after going through the leftover stuffed pigeon and guinea fowl, we decided to try something different with our last TWO stuffed chickens. Inspired by the blossoming calendula in the garden that can be used in place of saffron, we came across a Moroccan saffron chicken recipe we adapted to spice things up a bit.

For the Chicken:

1 whole chicken, roasted and torn into cut into bite-size pieces, skin removed (or about 3 large chicken breasts)

2 large sweet onions, chopped medium

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt

Petals of 4-5 Calendula flowers

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Sweat the onions in olive oil with all of the spices except for the fresh cilantro. Sweat them on low heat for an hour or more until the onions are a caramel color and begin to dissolve into a sweet onion mush.  While they are cooking, add cider vinegar or water every so often so they don’t burn. We also added a bit of granulated sugar to help the mixture meld. Add the cilantro when the onion mixture is cooling.

For the Tabouleh:

3 cups Bulgar wheat

6 cups boiling water or chicken/vegetable stock

Raw spring onion, diced

Fresh tarragon, coriander and parsley, finely chopped

Lemon juice

Pour the boiling water or stock over the tabouleh, mix in, and let sit for a minute to absorb the moisture and cook. When cool, add the onion, fresh herb, and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste.

We arranged the dish by putting the chicken pieces in a wreath arrangement around the bed of tabouleh and garnishing the chicken with the onion to keep it moist and let the flavor sink in.