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chicken with escarole, lemon & olives |
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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
| chicken with escarole, lemon & olives |
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This casserole of braised chicken, leafy greens, salty olives, and lemons seems to make everyone happy. Escarole is a wavy-leafed chicory that looks a little like giant butter lettuce. It’s bitter when raw, but sweet and tender when cooked. You can substitute radicchio for escarole, but the color won't be as pretty.
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| serves 4 to 6 |
prep time: 15 minutes cook time: 50 minutes |
1 whole chicken, cut up, with breasts halved crosswise (ask butcher to do this), or 8 to 10 chicken thighs
Salt
Olive oil
12 whole shallots
6 garlic cloves
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 large head escarole (about 1 pound), coarsely chopped
1 lemon, very thinly sliced, seeds removed
1 cup black oil-cured olives (with pits) or pitted Kalamatas
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Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Coat the bottom of a 5- to 7-quart Dutch oven or a 12-inch saute pan with a thin film of the oil and set over medium high heat. When oil shimmers, add some chicken, skin sides down, without crowding. Cook until skin is golden brown and chicken pieces release easily from pot when lifted with tongs, about 5 minutes. Turn pieces over and cook until the they brown and release easily on the other side, about 5 minutes more. Transfer browned chicken to a plate and repeat with remaining pieces.
While the chicken is browning, peel shallots and cut off root ends. Peel garlic.
When last batch of chicken has been removed, drain off all but about 2 tablespoons of fat from the pot. Put shallots and garlic in pot and stir for about 30 seconds; sprinkle with a little salt. Pour in the wine, stirring to release browned bits. Shake pot to spread out shallots and garlic. Add the escarole, but do not stir. Cover pot and let escarole wilt, about 5 minutes. Arrange sliced lemons in one layer over the escarole; do not stir. Arrange chicken with any accumulated juices on top of lemons; do not stir. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until chicken is opaque at the bone, about 35 minutes. Turn off heat.
Scatter olives over chicken and with a large spoon, gently stir contents of pot. Cover pot again and let stand for about 10 minutes to settle flavors, then divide chicken, vegetables, and olives among shallow pasta plates or bowls and spoon juices over.
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TO MAKE THIS A COMPLETE MEAL: I love to slather big slices of crusty bread with olive oil, toast them in the broiler, then rub them with a garlic clove to serve with this. Mashed potatoes are also irresistible. You don’t need a vegetable; that’s built in to the dish.
FUN FACT: Escarole is a member of the chicory family, along with curly endive (sometimes called frisèe), Belgian endive, radicchio and Treviso.
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