For those of you in the US, I know that you are rushing around with Thanksgiving preparations, stocking up on cranberry sauce, worrying about stuffing, and busily baking a pumpkin pie (okay, maybe dashing to the supermarket to buy one). But do you think that you can squeeze one more little dish onto your Thanksgiving table? I shared with you a Moroccan turkey recipe here. But the world's most brilliant pairing with turkey (or any chicken or meat dish for that matter) is another Moroccan recipe which is so easy and so delicious that you will wonder why you hadn't thought of it yourselves.
Now truth be told this isn't actually a standard Moroccan dish but it was very much inspired by Morocco. It was whipped up by my Chinese friend George and rather than have it go nameless, I hereby dub it George's Moroccan delight. This is its first debut in the cyberworld and I am a bit concerned that George will have to beat off crazed fans once they have a taste. But for the good of the globe, here you have it:
Take a small handful of each of the following ingredients: dried apricots, dates, raisins and put them in a sauce pot. To the pot, then add in a big handful of pearl onions (white or yellow). Do not chop up these ingredients - leave them whole. Pit the dates in such a way that you just put a small hole in the date and slip out the pit and lightly smush back together (that is a cooking term of art) so that the date remains intact looking. If you don't have dates, prunes work just fine, too. On the side, mix up the following oil mixture: a third of a cup of olive oil (give or take) with a pinch each of cinnamon, ginger powder, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and a little salt and pepper. If you don't have all these spices, don't stress - just put in the ingredients that you have. Toss the ingredients with this oil mixture and put over low heat. Add in some chicken stock (canned is fine or water will do) so that the dried fruits all plump up while simmering. 
In another pan, fry a small handful of whole almonds in just a smidge of oil. (This looks even nicer if the almonds don't have their skins so they look a bit burnished after cooking. You can boil the almonds first for a few minutes so that you can slip off their skins or buy almonds already skinned.) Simmer the dried fruit and onion combo until everything is a little bubbly and sticky (maybe 20 minutes - the chicken stock should be boiled off). Serve in a glass bowl with the almonds scattered on top. Position right next to the turkey. Yum!
When we were setting the table for George and Ewen's Thanksgiving fete, Ewen centered on the table this old Moroccan incense holder that I had brought them some years ago. He popped a votive candle on the inside. And voila...Moroccan ambiance.
