Friends Who Cook
January 2023
Anyone who enjoys cooking develops a repertoire over time, picking up new ingredients, methods, and flavors encountered in their travels. More is gathered while visiting markets or from eating other people’s home cooking. I’ve been lucky enough to have a few friends who enjoy cooking and who have shared recipes with me over the years. This one, Mediterranean Chicken (thanks to friends Clas and Kendal in Stockholm) has remained a hearty favorite for cold weather dinners. It works equally well with bread to soak up the sauce, with steamed potatoes, or over pasta with grated Parmesan cheese. The recipe makes good use of black olives, the quality of which in cooking matters (just as with wine — what tastes better to drink tastes better in cooking) so I suggest using good, oil-cured olives in this dish. The results are worthwhile.
To begin it’s best, if possible, to use a pot that can go directly from the stove into the oven. Then you will avoid transferring everything to a baking dish. Begin by washing, drying and seasoning the chicken pieces
Pour the onion mixture over the browned chicken in the pot you used to brown the chicken, or into a baking dish. Cover and put it into the oven. After an hour and a half, remove the cover and continue to cook in the oven for another 30 minutes.
When it comes out of the oven, it’s ready to eat. If there is too much oil on top you can spoon it off or soak it up with paper towel to remove the excess.
MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN
1 ½–2 cut up chickens, or 4 thighs and 2 whole breasts cut into smaller pieces.
3–4 halved and thinly sliced onions
2 T. olive oil
8 cloves garlic, peeled, halved, central stems removed and finely chopped
2 c. chicken stock,
½ c. cider vinegar
½ tube anchovy paste
¾ c. black olives (the wrinkly, oil cured kind)
2 t. each oregano & thyme (double the quantity if you are using fresh herbs)
1. Wash, dry and season the chicken with salt and pepper and leave to rest while chopping the onions and garlic.
2. Cut the peeled onions in half and thinly slice them. Brown in 2 T. olive oil. remove the onions to a bowl leaving any oil behind in the pot.
3. In the same pot, brown the chicken pieces skin side down first, for about 4 minutes per side on medium heat.
4. To the sautéed onions add the chicken stock, cider vinegar, anchovy paste, black olives and the oregano & thyme. Pour the contents of the bowl with the onion mixture over the chicken in the same browning pot, or, if it can’t go into an oven, use a baking dish with a cover (or use foil to cover it).
5. Bake at 350° for one hour then uncover and continue for 30 more minutes until it darkens and flavors blend.
This result is excellent with crusty bread, boiled small potatoes or, maybe my favorite, linguini and parmesan.
