Chicken with Dates & Honey

Your wish is my command, Tracy. Well...at the very least I aim to keep people happy! Here is the recipe for the Chicken with Dates and Honey. Dried dates are very cheap, so it's worth looking at recipes that use them! I'll give you the recipe and then tell you what I really do LOL.

Chicken with Dates and Honey

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground saffron
2 teaspoons ground cumin
8 chicken thigh cutlets
30g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 1/2 cups water
6 seedless fresh dates
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup blanched almonds

1. Rub combined salt, pepper, saffron and cumin onto chicken, cover, refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.
2. Heat butter and oil in pan. Add chicken and cook until browned; remove from pan. Add onion and cinnamon to pan, cook, stirring, until onion is soft.
3. Return chicken to pan, add water, simmer, covered for about 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.
4. Just before serving add the dates and honey and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Serve with couscous or rice

Now....what I really do:

• I use regular ground cinnamon ~ sticks are expensive, and dried dates, that I have chopped and then put into boiling water to plump them up a bit.
• I use as much chicken as I need for our family in whatever cut is cheapest or marked down when I shop. It'll mean you might need to adjust the cooking time, that's all. Meat on the bone will be tastier and more moist.
• I usually put this together right before cooking. I'm sure it would taste better if I let it sit for 2 hours in the spices....but I don't. No one notices!
  
• I also don't ever have saffron in the house, so I use a bit of tumeric for the colour.
• I wouldn't put almonds in it, as I have a daughter who can't eat nuts.
• You could also put this in the CP, if you have one, for step 3 onwards.
  

Essentially, what this means, is follow the basic recipe as much as you can and adjust it as you need to for your budget and family's taste.