Category Archives: Chicken

Provençal Chicken Thighs

I like to think of chicken as a blank canvas and that’s why I find it so exciting to work with. It has a mild flavour that can stand up to almost anything you combine it with.

I decided to go to the South of France this week with Chicken Provençal. Tomatoes, garlic, olives, and capers are the big flavour enhancers here. If you can find some cherry tomatoes on the vine, they make for a gorgeous presentation. I roasted them separately and put them on top of the finished dish. I find that it you cook them with the chicken, they break down too much. My olives of choice are Castelvetrano, which hail from Sicily and are worth seeking out. They are bright green with a meaty buttery flesh. Many specialty stores now stock them in their olive bars and you can find some good jarred ones.

I like to use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs as I think they have the most flavour. You could certainly use chicken breasts, but just make sure you don’t use boneless and skinless. You need the protection that the skin and bones provide, so that they don’t dry out.

Brown the chicken pieces well, to get a nice crispy skin. Then remove the chicken from the pan and add your flavouring ingredients. Garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, olives and capers figure prominently in this version. I tucked in 2 peeled and quartered onions into the mix as well. Chicken stock and white wine go in next. Then place the chicken pieces back on top, making sure that the liquid only comes about halfway up the height of the chicken. You don’t want to submerge the chicken in liquid and ruin that crispy skin you worked so hard to achieve. Tuck it into the oven to finish cooking.

My twist on this classic dish is to create a “cream” sauce to finish the dish. But, I didn’t use any cream at all to create this velvety smooth sauce. Once the chicken is finished braising, strain the cooking liquid and puree it in the blender with the braised onions. It’s a trick I learned from Food 52 Genius recipes. It creates ta luscious creamy sauce that begs for some crusty bread to sop it up.

I highly suggest you use a digital thermometer to test when the chicken is done. This is my favourite thermometer. A bit of an investment but it lasts for years. It takes all the guess work out of cooking. Chicken breasts are done at 150°F and thighs are most tender if cooked to 195°F. I also use my instant read thermometer for baking bread and cakes. I get perfect results every time.

Musakhan Wraps

These wraps are cookbook author Anas Atassi’s interpretation of Musakhan. Originally served in the fall to celebrate the olive harvest, Musakhan is considered by many to be the national dish of Palestine. It is essentially a whole roast chicken, flavoured with sumac and other Middle Eastern spices. It is typically eaten with your hands. Served on flatbread, over a bed of slowly caramelized sumac flavoured onions, Musakhan is the epitome of Palestinian comfort food.

In Atassi’s Syrian version, the chicken is shredded , then fried with onions and sumac and rolled up into a delicious flatbread. His new book, Sumac is a love letter to that spice and his native country. He says, “With this book, I hope to build a bridge between Syrian culture and the rest of the world, with food the common denominator. But even more, I hope that Sumac will present a positive image of my country, in spite of all the unfortunate events now taking place in Syria.”

The star of this dish is sumac, which comes from the dried and ground berries of the wild sumac flower. It has a deep crimson colour and is tangy with a sour, acidic flavour, similar to lemon juice. Cinnamon, cardamom and cloves add warmth and a depth of flavour to the chicken.

Onions are not a supporting cast member here. They form an integral part of the dish. Three large onions are sliced, seasoned generously with sumac and sautéed low and slow in olive oil, until they become sweet and mellow.

I used large flour tortillas as a wrapper for the chicken and onions. Once filled, I fried them in a bit of olive oil to crisp up the outside.

I decided to serve it with a dipping sauce on the side. I used a vegan sour cream as I wanted to keep the meal dairy-free. I mixed it with lemon juice, garlic and dill. Yogurt would also work well.

Glazed Maple Honey Pepper Chicken

The inspiration for this chicken dish came from Brad Leone in the July 2020 issue of Bon Appétit magazine. You will need to plan ahead if you want to make this, as the chicken spends 8 hours in the fridge, absorbing a dry rub of black and pink peppercorns. I cut the backbone out of the chicken (Spatchcock is the technical term for this) using poultry shears, so that it would lay flat and roast faster. This is something you can ask the butcher to do, if you’re squeamish about handling raw chicken.

I have never cooked with pink peppercorns before and I was shocked at how much they added to the flavour of the chicken. They are more floral than spicy and they add a delicate, fruity note. The dry brining also gives the skin a chance to air dry, resulting in the crispiest skin after roasting.

The original recipe was done on the BBQ, but I roasted mine in the oven. Before putting the chicken in the roasting pan, I made a bed of peeled halved shallots and lemon wedges to keep the chicken off the bottom of the roasting pan, so that it would roast and not steam in its own juices. Plus, they helped to flavour the chicken.

While the chicken is roasting, I prepared a glaze to be brushed on the chicken during the last 15 minutes of oven time. The glaze is perfectly balanced in terms of flavour. Honey and maple syrup add sweetness , jalapeño peppers add heat, pink peppercorns add a floral note and champagne vinegar adds acidity.

I served it with some wedge roasted potatoes and a green salad. Even though we are just 2 at home now, I still love to make a whole roasted chicken. it’s great to have leftovers the next day.

Chipotle Honey Chicken Tacos

When we moved from our family home to a condo a few years ago, I set up one of the bedrooms as my office. It has a huge desk and a really comfy ergonomic chair, perfect for sitting and writing blog posts, editing photos and all the other desk work I do. There is a huge window and lots of lovely light. Yet, somehow, I’m not using this space as I envisioned.

My office has become a storeroom for all my props, an addiction that has usurped my previous addiction for shoes, as well as a repository for all the items I’m not sure what to do with yet. Oh, and under the floating bookshelves, are several cases of empty wine bottles that have been piling up since social distancing began almost 19 weeks ago, but we won’t go there today.

I spend all my time in my kitchen. I have a small sitting area, off the kitchen, with two chairs and an ottoman. I bought a laptop tray and have set up an office from there. I’m happy, so all is good, but I really need to organize that office.

I’m excited to share this recipe with you today. It’s moved into our weekly rotation of dinners around here. The inspiration came from a Bon Appetit recipe for Chipotle Honey Shrimp Tacos. This is my adaptation. I love a dinner you can eat with your hands, where everyone assembles their own. This used to really confuse my husband. He would come to the table and see all the bowls of ingredients and sauces and say, “Cin, what do we do here?” It’s become one of our favourite family jokes.

Start with marinating boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a mixture of honey and canned chipotle chiles in adobo. They are found in the Latin/Mexican section of the supermarket. If you can’t find them, I included instructions for making a substitute sauce in the recipe.

Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roast in a 375°F oven for about 30 minutes. While the chicken is roasting, prep all the sides. Anything goes here. Be creative. I used red and green cabbage, sliced jalapeños, pickled red onions, cilantro, avocado and lime. I mixed up a quick crema sauce with garlic, mayo and dairy-free sour cream (Tofutti sour cream).

Serve with beer (optional) and lots of napkins (not optional). These are a delicious drippy mess.

Za’atar Roasted Chicken over Sumac Potatoes

There is something about a chicken roasting in the oven that makes me feel like everything’s going to be ok. Such a simple, humble dish has an amazing power to reassure and comfort. And we could all use a little comfort right now.

This roast chicken is comfort food with a zesty attitude. The recipe comes from Adeena Sussman‘s new cookbook, Sababa. Adeena is a Tel Aviv based food writer and recipe developer. Sababa celebrates the fresh and sunny flavours and vibrant spices of Israel. It’s my new favourite way to make roast chicken. If you have never roasted an entire chicken, nothing could be simpler. Even though we are just 2 at home now, I roast a whole chicken at least once a week. Leftovers the next day are a gift!

Spices figure prominently in this dish. Shallots and red potato wedges get a coating of olive oil and sumac. If you have never used ground sumac, you are missing out. Sumac is a bush that grows in the Middle East. The bright red berries are harvested, dried and ground into a coarse powder with a tangy lemony flavour. It’s much less astringent than lemon juice and adds a light pop of tartness. It’s widely available in Middle Eastern stores and if you’re in Canada, Bulk Barn carries it.

The second spice that makes an appearance is za’atar, which is actually a spice mixture. Za’atar gets mixed with lemon zest and olive oil and massaged into the chicken skin. I love this dish because you roast the chicken and the veggies all in one pan. The fat from the chicken coats the potatoes and the ones at the edge get super crispy.

Be patient and let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes once it’s done before you try to carve it. Served with a green salad, you have a complete meal.