Chicken Tagine with Apricots and Almonds served with couscous

My weekly dinner with Katie and Peter ended up being an Ole reunion this week, with another St. Olaf grad, Nicole, joining us. She brought a great spinach salad, Katie and Peter supplied the wine and kitchen, and adorable puppy. We made a chicken tagine with apricots and almonds...mmm...The warm smell of cinnamon is perfect for winter weather!

 ingredients
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup olive oil
1 (3-lb) chicken, cut into 6 pieces*
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium red onion, halved, then sliced 1/4 inch thick
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
fresh cilantro
1 1/2 cups water
splash of red wine
1 tablespoon mild honey
1/2 cup dried Turkish apricots, separated into halves
handful of currants
1/3 cup whole almonds, roughly chopped

*use whatever chicken pieces you prefer - we used 6 thighs for the nice and juicy dark meat

preparation:
1. Mix the spices with 2 T oil in a bowl. Add the chicken and mix to coat with spices.
2. Brown the chicken, skin-side down, in a large pot with 1 T oil. You may need to do this in steps to not crowd the pan. Transfer chicken to a plate.
3. Add onion to the pan, cook till soft. Add garlic, splash of wine.
4. Add chicken back in, plus any juices that accumulated on plate, plus water, and any spice mixture left over.
5. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add a bit more water if the liquid is low, but you don't want it to get soupy, just saucy.
6. With 10 minutes left, add in apricots, currants, and honey.
7. Serve with cilantro and chopped almonds on top.  We also made Israeli Couscous to serve.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious