Sweet Stuffed Moroccan Chicken

Sweet stuffed Moroccan chicken is a whole bird filled with couscous, almonds and raisins, spiced with ginger and saffron, and roasted. The sweet-and-savoury combination is characteristic of Moroccan cooking rather than a novelty. Dried fruit and nuts with meat runs right through the cuisine, in tagines with prunes, in mrouzia with honey and almonds, in pastilla where sugar is dusted over a pigeon pie. The instinct is old and probably Andalusian and Persian in origin, and Morocco has kept it more completely than most. Saffron is what lifts it and is worth using properly. It is the most expensive spice in the world by weight, but very little is needed, and it should be bloomed in a little warm water or stock before it goes in rather than added dry, which wastes most of it. The couscous stuffing does two things: it carries the fruit and nuts, and it absorbs juices from the bird as it roasts. Ginger runs through the spicing alongside the saffron, and the combination is what makes it read as Moroccan rather than generally festive. Serves three to six depending on the bird.