Braised Chicken with Lemon and Olives

Braised Chicken with Lemon and Olives

David Tanis, NY Times Cooking 2/27/2015

This recipe was in the New York Times this week and it sounded so simple and so good that I just had to try it.  I cooked mine in a cast iron skillet and it turned out beautifully.  The verdict?  It's one of my favorites!  The aroma in the house was divine and the presentation perfect.  I am still smiling.

As stated in the Times article, this is a versatile dish, this recipe being for the Italian version: rosemary, garlic, fennel seed and red pepper.  Marinate the thighs, surround them with lemon wedges, and brown them in the oven.  Add a handful of green and black olives and a ladelful of chicken broth.  Simmer a bit.  The result:  earthy, herbaceous, lemony.  Serve with polenta.

To give the same dish a more Provençal profile, use thyme sprigs rather than rosemary and choose oil-cured black or tiny niçoise olives. Serve with potatoes or egg noodles. For a North African feel, use large green olives and add toasted ground cumin seeds and hot paprika. Serve with flatbread or couscous.

INGREDIENTS:

8 chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in, about 3 ½ pounds

Salt and pepper to taste

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

1 Tablespoon roughly chopped rosemary

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Meyer lemons, cut in wedges

1 cup flavorful olives, with pits, a mixture of black and green, about 1 pound

1 cup chicken broth

3 Tablespoons chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS:

·       Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels.  Season well with salt and pepper and place in an earthenware baking dish in one layer, skin side up.  Sprinkle with red pepper, garlic, fennel and rosemary and drizzle with olive oil.  Rub seasoning into thighs on all sides.  Tuck lemon wedges here and there.  Let marinate for 15 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

·       Put baking dish in oven, uncovered, and roast until skin browns lightly, about 20 minutes.  Scatter olives evenly over chicken and broth.  Cover tightly and bake for 1 hour, until meat is very tender when probed with a skewer.

·       Remove thighs and lemon wedges and arrange on a platter.  Keep warm.  Pour pan juices into a saucepan and quickly skim fat from surface.  Over high heat, simmer rapidly until reduced by half.  Spoon juices over chicken, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

·       Note: I used a package of 5 chicken thighs, but kept everything else the same and it turned out perfectly.   I couldn’t find Meyer lemons, so I used two large lemons.  I also used large pitted olives, which worked out well.