Spicy Chicken with Dates & Butternut Squash

Hello all.

I thought today I would share a short story and a recipe to go along with it.

It must have been 2 years ago in September. A good and long-time friend was in town for a short while, and we got to spend some good-times together. Amongst that was our birthdays, and for them we got together and went out for a night in downtown P-town. Don't get me wrong, I don't normally do such things, but it was necessary this time (circumstances allowed the exception.). Anyways, we went out for some delicious Mediterranean food first. I don't believe the restaurant is still there.  I've gone to find this Aaamazing place, and couldn't. It is right off of Burnside... But the night was full of tons of fun (of course Brian was there as our body guard). One place we went to was Darcell's, there are not words to describe this place. Most of you wouldn't be interested in visiting it anyways. I don't think I would return myself... lol

Moving on!

I enjoyed the food at the before said restaurant and thought I would branch out in my cooking a little more. So this is what I found, and we have been in love with it since! And every time I make this dish it reminds me of her and I think of our fun night in P-town.

Spicy Chicken with Dates & Butternut Squash Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Butternut squash 
• 4 TBS EVOO
• 2 1/2 lbs Chicken (breast or thigh)
  
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 lg onion
• 12 dry pitted dates, coarsely chopped
• 1 Tbs ground Cumin
• 1 Tbs ground Coriander
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 3 Tbs Flour
• 3 cups chicken stock 
   
• 1/2 cup cilantro roughly chopped

Directions

Preheat Oven 400 F
Cut squash into cubes, place in baking dish, and drizzle EVOO over it. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
place in oven for about 30-45 mins. or until tender.

Cook chicken in EVOO with salt & pepper.
Add onions, dates, spices, bay leaf, & Cinnamon stick into pan. When onion is tender add flour, cook about 1 min.

Add stock, bring to a bubble. Simmer until curry thickens and dates plump. (5-6 mins)

Remove bay leaf and Cinnamon stick

stir in roasted squash

Serve with rice or couscous

Number of Servings: 6 (round about-ed this number)
*it would really be 6 large servings, I don't think the calories are about that much. It makes a lot, esp. with rice!

For those of you curious about calories and such I entered this into a recipe nutrition calculator and this is what it says:

• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 304.1

• Total Fat: 13.7 g
• Cholesterol: 17.3 mg
• Sodium: 196.5 mg
• Total Carbs: 37.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 6.6 g
• Protein: 11.2 g