Girlfriends!! I adore this Moroccan Chicken Salad by Chelsea Winter, a talented Kiwi who won New Zealand MasterChef in 2012. Chelsea’s recipes are the best.

This salad takes a bit of time to make, but it’s worth the effort.

(I’ve tweaked Chelsea’s recipe a little; please check out her site for the original plus more healthy New Zealand-inspired food.)

Do this first:

Soak ¾ cup dried apricots, quartered, in 1 cup orange juice + 2 tbsp honey (2 hours or so)

Marinate 1 kilo of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in 3 tsp cumin, 3 tsp ground coriander, 2 tsp turmeric, ½ tsp mixed spice, ½ tsp pepper, zest of a lemon, 4 tbsp olive oil

Toast ½ cup pistachio or pine nuts

Slice 1 red onion thinly, squeeze lemon juice on top and sprinkle with salt.

Make a salad dressing of ¼ cup Greek yogurt, ¼ cup mayonnaise, 1 bunch chopped coriander (cilantro if you’re in Canada!), pinch of chili flakes, 3 tbsp of the orange juice/honey marinade

To assemble the salad:

Make 1 ½ cups couscous (in water or chicken stock – follow instructions on the packet)

Then…barbecue the chicken and slice it (I put mine in the oven to bake, then finished with 5 mins on the grill. And this time, I burnt it. Sheesh. But it was still yum.)

In a gorgeous salad bowl, mix the couscous with 3 cups of spinach, the drained onion, drained apricots and 4 tbsp of the dressing

Sprinkle with pine nuts, arrange the chicken on top, pour over dressing and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds (optional but so pretty!) or strawberries (also optional)

And there you have it…Moroccan Chicken Salad on a warm autumn day in our backyard.

Wish you were here!