BRAISED CHICKEN WITH SAFFRON ONIONS, ISRAELI COUSCOUS & DATE RELISH

So my friends Jessica, Diana, and Jonathan regularly get together for what we call gay dates - just us gays and the girls who love us.  Usually we go out to fun and interesting restaurants, such as Tart, and Lou on Vine.  For our latest get together we were spitballing ideas for places to go when I half-seriously suggested that I have people over to my place for a home cooked dinner.  Since Diana and Jonathon had never really been on the receiving end of one of my culinary experiments, they were more than eager set a time and date.  The pressure was on.

What to make?  Of course they'd read about some of the stuff I've made for just Mark and myself, so I felt that it was only fair to do something equally adventureous, so to say.  I mean it didn't seem quite right to make things like scallops and chanterelles for just the two of us and then when people come over do something mundane like meatloaf (even though I adore meatloaf and saw an intriguing recipe for one in the lasted issue of Donna Hay Magazine - instead of breadcrumbs it uses couscous and then the whole thing is wrapped in prosciutto.  Don't you love that idea?)

So when looking for an interesting, unique and unexpected menu, there's only one place to look, really.  Sunday Suppers at Lucques.  This braised chicken dish was the other entree in the menu that also featured the harissa spiced snapper with roasted beet salsa and caramilized carrot puree.

Braising meats is always a great thing to serve when people are coming over.  Once it's in the oven, it's pretty hands off and you are free to do other things or mingle with guests or whatever.  The results are very reliable.  You needn't worry that the meat is going to be dry, rather it's always moist, succulent, fork tender and easy to eat, perfect for those of us who don't have dining rooms and have no other option but to force our guests to eat, balancing their plates on their knees whilst sitting on the sofa.

INGREDIENTS
(For the spice rub)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 chile de arbol, crumbled
2 teaspoons bittersweet paprika

(For the Chicken)
6 chicken legs with thighs attached, skin on (I used four legs and two breasts)
1 cup sliced onion
1 cup sliced fennel
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chopped San Marzano canned tomatoes
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup sherry
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cuo chopped fresh cilantro

(For the Date Relish)
1/2 cup Deglet Noor Dates, pitted and coarsly chopped
2 tablespoons super-good extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

(For the Saffron Onions)
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 cups sliced onions (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 bay leaf
1 chile de arbol, crumbled
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

(For the Couscous)
2 1/2 cups Israeli Couscous
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper

METHOD
Toast the cumin seeds and the corriander seeds in a small fry pan for a few minutes until the seeds release their aroma and are lightly browned.  Grind them coarsly in a spice mill or mortar and pestle.  In a small bowl, combine the ground spices with the garlic, thyme, parsley, crumbled chile, and paprika.

Place the chicken in a large bowl and sprinkle over the spice mixture and using your hands, toss the chicken and spices together, coating well. 

So when I made the spice rub, I forgot to include the parsley.  I later went back and added it to the  chicken, but did not take another picture.  Sorry for any confusion.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking, to allow it to come to room temperature.  After 15 minutes, season the chicken on all sides with 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of salt and lots of pepper.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat a large saute pan over high heat for 2 minutes.  Swirl in the olive oil and wait 1 minute.  Place the chicken legs, skin side down, in the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. Every so often, swirl the oil and rendered fat around the pan.  Turn the legs over, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 more minutes on the second side.

It's likely you will need to brown the chicken in two batches.  Set the browned chicken aside.

Pour off some of the fat and return the saute pan to medium heat.  Add the onions, fennel and bay leaves. 

Cook for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are lightly caramelized.  Add the tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes, stirring and scrapping with a wooden spoon.  Add the sherry vinegar, white wine, and sherry.  Turn the heat up to high and reduce by half.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Add the cilantro, give it a stir and then spoon the vegetables into the bottom of a large casserole or braising dish.  Arrange the chicken in one layer in the dish, skin side up and then pour over the broth.  The liquid should not quite cover the chicken.

At this point Ms. Goin instucts us to cover the dish with plastic wrap, which she assures us can go into the oven and then cover the pastic wrap with a layer of aluminum foil.  Place the dish in the oven and braise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

While the chicken is braising, make all the accroutrements.

To make the date relish, toss the dates with the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and cilantro.  Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some pepper.

Next make the saffron onions.  Toss the saffron threads in a small pan over medium heat unutil they just dry and become brittle.  Be very careful not to burn the precious saffron.  Pound the saffron in a mortar to a fine powder. 

Dab a tablespoon of butter into the powder, using the butter to pick up the saffron.

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat for 2 minutes.  Add the olive oil, remaining butter and saffron butter.  When the butter foams, add the onions, bay leaf, crumbled chile, thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and some pepper. 

Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, as the onions wilt.  Turn the heat down to low and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the onions are soft and sweet.  Taste for seasoning.

To make the couscous, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the couscous and cook 6 to ten minutes, until tender but still al dente.  Drain the couscous, return it to the pot and toss with the butter, parsley and a pinch of pepper.  Taste for seasoning.

By now, the chicken should be ready.  To check the chicken for doneness, remove the foil and plastic, being careful of the escaping steam.  Pierce a piece of chicken with a paring knife.  It should yeild easily and be tender but not quite falling off the bone.

Turn the oven up to 400 degrees F.  Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet and return it to the oven to brown for about 10 minutes.  Pour half of the broth and vegetables into a saute pan and heat over high heat until it had reduced and become thickened.  Pour the thickened sauce into the bottom of a serving dish and pile the crisped chicken on top of it.

It shouldn't come to a surprise at this point that one of Ms. Goin's recipes it astonishingly delicious.  Once again all the different componants of the meal perfectly compliment one another.  The chicken is so moist and tender, the skin crispy, the dates chewy, and the onions...holy cow.  Those onions.  Flowery with a heat, velvety in texture, they would be fantastic added to just about anything you could think of with the exception of perhaps breakfast cereal.  If you haven't ever had the pleasure of trying israeli couscous, seek it out immediately.  It too has such a great texture, like savory tapioca, if you can imagine that.

As a prelude to this meal I served crostini, wedges of manchego and blue cheese, tapenade (which I cheated and bought at Bristol Farms), little spicy sweet peppadew peppers, which I stuffed with goat cheese, drizzled with olive oil and scattered with chopped parsley and fresh cracked pepper, and roasted figs stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped with thin slices of prosciutto, which you can read about in more detail in my post today on Apartment Therapy Kitchen (plug plug).

My dessert, however, was a bit of a disappointment.  I attempted an what I thought would be an interesting olive oil cake, also from Sunday Suppers.  Slathered with a thick layer of mascarpone whipped cream and segements of tangerine sweetened in vanilla sugar syrup, the cake was too dry (my fault) and alternately lacking in flavor/too sweet.  Oh well.  You win some, you lose some.  And this chicken is most definately a winner.

Comments

[Kate]

I love you, because you love Suzanne Goin's cooking as much as I do.

Beautiful rendition, as usual!

[Jen]

This looks fantastic. My cookbook club is considering 'Sunday Suppers' for our next book...looks like a winner. Btw, we just did 'Spice' by Ana Sortun, which is fabulous.

[Anne]

Looks fabulous...especially those onions. What beautiful brown crust on that chicken as well. I'm curious- how did the saran-wrap-under-foil work out? I recently made the tomato/potato gratin from the same book but was too scared to use my grocery-store brand plastic wrap in the oven. Thanks!

[yoony]

this chicken dish is definitely next on my list to cook. it looks too good to wait. i love that black dish you served the chicken in! tres chic!

[Shaun]

I recently made this gorgeous dish by Suzanne Goin, too. I love how you photograph each step - far more detailed than I am. Good on you for doing the dates; I skipped that part out. My darling Eric enjoyed the meal as did our galpal guest. It is a great meal to cook for company. I love your blog by the way. I'm keen on checking out Ambassade Auvergne in Paris when Eric and I go there in January.

[Rachel Schiff]

This looks fantastic. However, I want to cook something like this for Passover dinner and want last minute prep to be as simple as possible. How far can I prep this recipe ahead of time and still achieve astounding results?