August 11, 2010 | 1 minute read

Spanish cuisine often infuses main dishes with warm, earthy spices. An example is today’s Health-e-Recipe, Chicken with Chickpeas and Tomatoes. It brings saffron, cloves and cinnamon into play with the piquant notes of parsley and cilantro. Saffron is hand-harvested from the saffron crocus and is also used for Spanish paella where it turns the rice yellow. Although it’s costly, a little saffron goes a long way (if you want the golden color and not the expense, try substituting turmeric). Cloves, dried flower buds of an evergreen, add a sweet yet pungent, taste to this recipe – and have been found in the lab to have high levels of cancer-fighting, antioxidant phytochemicals. Cinnamon’s sweet warm taste offsets the tomatoes’ acidity. Parsley, a member of the carrot family, has plenty of vitamins C and A. It shares protective flavonoid phytochemicals with cilantro. All these fragrant spices and herbs make this a delicious centerpiece for a healthy meal. Click here to subscribe to weekly Health-e-Recipes from AICR.