Our final product – looks homemade – chicken and parsnip tagine with coriander and cilantro, with roasted Delicata squash and brown rice as well (Image by Liz Cameron)

Pecked out before my arm really started to hurt. We are still standing & M. is still cooking!

My arm is hurting, a lot. I can type, but doing anything with my arm above my heart is painful. It also hurts to prep food – so today, I was the chef-de-cuisine in our home, and M. was the sous-chef. The Karagöz puppets sat along the window sill and cheered him on:

“Here’s to the man of the house, chopping onions and peeling parsnips!”

“He’s not afraid to de-vein and seed a pepper!”

“He’s not afraid to shed a tear – even if it is onion-induced!”

I didn’t have a plan until I looked at the stuff in the kitchen and remembered our dream of heading to Morocco on our next big trip, so here is how this dish came about – a pure m’lady creation with Morocco on the brain – the puppets, of course, hadn’t been whispering “tagine” and “Fez” and “Casablanca” in my ear all night or anything, of course not!

Chicken and parsnip tagine with coriander (a la M’lady)

5 chicken drumsticks with skin

5 big parsnips, peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks

1 curly hot green pepper, seeded, de-veined and chopped to bits

4 onions, chopped fairly fine

1 McIntosh apple, cored, skinned and sliced (the poor thing)

Some pul biber-infused olive oil

2 tbsps coriander seed, ground

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

A box of chicken stock or some from the freezer, if you are lucky and industrious like me (she brags)

A head of garlic pressed through a sieve

Here’s what M. and I did:

Start by browning the onions and peppers – garlic at the last minute (Image by Liz Cameron)

Parsnips and peppers (image by Liz Cameron)

1. Brown the onions and diced green pepper in a skillet, towards the end, add the garlic, but make sure it does not get brown and bitter. Before the latter happens, put it into the ceramic crock pot.

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Brown those chicken drumsticks with abandon! OK, not abandon… (Image by Liz Cameron)

…and don’t forget to add the apple and parsnips (image by Liz Cameron)

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2. Then, brown the chicken drumsticks on two sides after salting the bejesus out of them, then place in the crock pot along with the chopped parsnips and chopped apple. Toss in your coriander seed, ground. Mix it in a bit.

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The chicken and parsnips have entered the room – er – crock pot (image by Liz Cameron)

Don’t forget to wash the cilantro (coriander leaf) (image by Liz Cameron)

3. Cover the stuff in the crock pot with the box of chicken stock (or stuff from the freezer, melted). Put it on low for 5-7 hours. As it is almost ready, get out your cilantro, cook some rice – and roast some delicata squash in the oven. It makes a nice, warm autumnal meal – especially when M. is doing the chopping.

Afiyet olsun!

Written a few weeks ago before Frankenstorm was a nascent swirl and before i could only write slowly with my right hand

Today, the Karagöz puppets awoke