Honey-glazed Chicken breasts with couscous

We had this for the first time late last year. I was a little nervous about introducing couscous to my kids. To my surprise my (then) 8 year old son really enjoyed it! I think he liked the change from potatoes or rice. I do have to admit though, I didn’t use plain couscous, I used pouches that had coriander and lemon taste. And I have ever since.

My daughter is not a fan of couscous so we let her have rice.

I will remind you that my family is very big and this was enough for us, my Aupair and my father in law. If you have a “normal” sized family I suggest you half it.

You will need the following ingredients:

• Olive oil (for frying)
• 4 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tins diced Tomatoes (800 gr)
• 2 dl Pineapple juice
• 6 tbsp Honey
• 2 tbsp Apple vinegar or other mild vinegar
• 2 tbsp Maple syrup
• 2 tsp Ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1200 gr Chicken breast
• 300 gr couscous

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven by setting it at 220°C.
2. Warm up the oil on a big pan and fry the crushed garlic in it for about a minute, or till it’s soft but not burned.
3. Add the tomatoes onto the pan and mash them with a potato masher. Don’t worry about lumps though as it shouldn’t be completely smooth.
4. Add pineapple juice, honey, vinegar, syrup, ginger and salt to the pan and bring to the boil. Make it simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it has thickened a little.
5. Meanwhile, spray an oven tray with a little olive oil (or spread it onto the tray) and place the chicken breasts onto the tray.
6. Pour the sauce over the chicken and place in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
7. Just before the chicken is ready, cook the couscous according to instructions on the pouch.
8. Once the 20 minutes are up, change the oven settings to the grill and grill the chicken in the tray for another 2 minutes.

As I have said before, I cannot trust my oven and therefore I cut the breasts into smaller pieces and fry them on a pan before I put them in the oven. However, if you have a good oven I would not do that as it risks the chicken getting a little dryer than it has to be.