Kate’s Lemon Chicken
It looks like it should have plenty of flavor
Time: 1 Hour 55 minutes
Ingredient Availability: 4/5
Difficulty: 1/5
This is another recipe from Texture Over Taste. Lemon is one of my favorite things to add to both savory and sweet foods, so this recipe seemed to be right up my alley. Interestingly, the only lemon that this recipe includes is cured lemon, so I’m curious to see how lemony it actually turns out.
Key Ingredients & Omissions:
The only ingredient that I had to replace was the ground cumin. I used some garam masala instead, which I luckily had from another recipe. The cured lemon may be a little difficult to find. I was able to find it at Whole Foods. Also, I didn’t use chardonnay. Instead, I just used a basic white wine. I’m not a big fan or olives and wasn’t able to find pitted Castelvetrano olives, so I just got some with the pits.
Tools:
Dutch Oven/Large pit with lid
Sharp Knife
Cooking Review:
Prep: 25 minutes
The prep for this recipe was fairly intensive, but not hard. I peeled all 20 garlic cloves, diced the onion, and chopped the preserved lemon skin and parsley. I also went ahead and measured out a few of the other ingredients and seasonings. The preserved lemons come whole, so I had to peel them before chopping the skin. I just discarded the flesh.
Season and Sear Chicken: 20 minutes
While I heated the vegetable oil in my large pot, I seasoned the chicken leg quarters with salt and pepper on each side. Once the oil was hot, I seared the chicken two at a time. I seared each side for about 3 minutes before setting aside on a plate.
Prepare Braise: 15 minutes
I added the onion and garlic to the pot and sauteed them for about 2 minutes before adding in the spices to toast for a minute. I added the white wine and let it reduce by about half, 4 minutes, then added the chicken stock.
Add Chicken & Braise: 52 minutes
I lowered the heat to low and added the chicken back into the pot in as even a layer as I could and added the cured lemon, olives, and bay leaves. I let the chicken braise for 48 minutes before removing the chicken.
Thicken sauce: 5 minutes
With the chicken removed, I increased the heat to reduce and thicken the sauce. Once thickened, I stirred in the parsley and served the dish.
Analysis:
This dish is very flavorful and I wasn’t disappointed by the lemon flavor. Somehow, the cured lemons were able to perfume the whole dish to impart a nice lemon flavor. The chicken was super tender and just slightly spicy with the braising liquid spooned over it. All of the spices tasted very fresh and there was an excellent savoriness. I could take or leave the olives, which were a little hard to eat with the pits. Honestly, I just avoided them for the most part. I’m going to give this recipe a 9/10. It does take a while to make, but I think it’s worth it. Most of it is hands off.
