Chicken with Green Olives

This recipe started out as a Mark Bittman recipe, and is possibly the only recipe he's ever written to be overly complicated (since he is, after all, The Minimalist). There was this whole process of simmering the olives in boiling water, discarding that water, and repeating, which I guess was designed to make things not taste too much like olives or something... but it's called Chicken with Green Olives, and I love strong flavors so I prefer my way of making this dish in terms of flavor, and the increased ease of preparation is a bonus. (I didn't get a great picture of it because I have limited dishes here in my hotel and I wasn't originally planning to post this when I plated my dinner... I'll take a better picture next time I make this and post it here...)

Chicken with Green Olives
   2 large onions, roughly chopped
   4 cloves garlic, minced
   3 - 4 tablespoons minced ginger
   3 bay leaves
   2 tablespoon cumin
   2 teaspoon paprika
   1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
   2 cinnamon sticks (~3 inches each)
   1 teaspoon ground turmeric
   4 cups chicken stock, divided
   2 kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs
   2 cups chili-garlic green olives (not stuffed), halved **
   3 teaspoons coarse sea salt, divided
   1 1/2 cups dry couscous
   1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
   juice of 1 lemon

Preheat an oven to 325º F. Place a large oven-safe pan over medium-high heat and add the onions. Sauté for about 10 minutes or until beginning to color and soften. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté another 5 minutes. Add the next 6 ingredients (bay leaves through turmeric) and stir to combine. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then add 1 cup of the chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Add 2 more cups of stock and bring to a boil. Add the chicken, olives, and 2 teaspoons of sea salt to the pot and stir to combine, then bring to a simmer. Place the pot in the preheated oven and cook for about 1 hour.

While the chicken cooks (towards the end of the hour), prepare the couscous. Combine the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock with about 1/2 cup of water and 1 teaspoon of sea salt and bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately add the couscous. Cover and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, then fluff with a fork and stir through 1/2 cup of the chopped cilantro.

When the chicken is done cooking, remove the pan from the oven. Remove the chicken pieces from the sauce and roughly chop into approximately bite-sized pieces. Return the chicken to the sauce and stir in the lemon juice and remaining cilantro. Serve over a scoop of cilantro couscous.

Serves 6-8.

**If you can't find chili-garlic olives at your store, you can buy plain large green olives (pimento-stuffed is fine, just remove the pimentos when you halve the olives) and toss them with a generous amount of minced garlic and crushed red pepper flakes the day before you want to make this dish, giving them the chance to marinate overnight.