Make Ahead
Flat Iron Chicken
- Serves 4
Author Notes
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, in a time before Eataly , a time before Shake Shack, when Madison Square Park was one huge dog run... I grew up, lived and worked within sight of the Flatiron Building, and the culinary landscape was quite different.
Spanish restaurants dominated the block and waaaay back in the 70's & 80's Spanish restaurants meant Enormous plates with equally HUGE Lobsters and Paella and rather than tiny plates of tinged with squid ink.
Fancy Italian restaurants tended towards red flocked velvet, chandeliers and murals.
Two of my three favorite chicken dishes could be found on 23rd Street....Chicken Paella (The Spanish Restaurant near the Chelsea Hotel- Franciscos???) full of garlic, chorizo & yellow rice. From a dark and mysterious Italian Restaurant once located @ 10th Avenue, Chicken Scarperiello chunks of chicken, sausage, peppers & potatoes in a garlicky vinegary sauce. My MOST favorite the legendary and elusive Chicken El Parador was on 34th Street, which is in Murray Hill, not Flatiron, and comes in to play a bit here as well--- the recipe is a secret for over 40 years - My parents celebrated my birth with that chicken...I'd love to know how they make it.
In thinking about a 1 pot meal, I drifted between the three chicken dishes and then decided that I would combine the two...using a few common ingredients..chicken, garlic, sausage, bay leaves to create an easy 1 pot (well really 1 baking dish) dinner easy enough for week nights but lovely enough for a dinner party that held the flavors I've loved forever.
This is very adaptable, you could use red potatoes in place of Yukon Gold, shallots jn place of onions, fennel wouldn't be out of place, nor would cauliflower. Some cubes of stale bread wouldn't be a bad add-in either. You could even sub sweet potatoes or winter squash for the potatoes...in fact if you used duck breast instead of chicken and swapped the peppers for dates, and sprinkled in some chopped toasted pistachios & orange zest, it could be freakin' Ammmazeballs, but I just thought of that now, so maybe but maybe not.. —Aliwaks
Ingredients
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1
Whole Chicken (3#) cut into 8 peices
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1
head garlic, cut in half
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3 tablespoons
Olive Oil
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1 tablespoon
Paprika
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1 tablespoon
Cumin
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2
Bay leaves
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2 cups
onion cut in chunks
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1 pound
Yukon Gold POtatoes cut in 2 " chunks or equivalent in smaller potatoes
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1 cup
Thick sliced Spanish (dry ) Chorizo
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2 cups
Red & Yellow Pepper cut in 2" chunks or use mini peppers
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1 bunch
Dandelion greens, washed & chopped
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Salt & Pepper
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2 tablespoons
Sherry Vinegar
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1/2 cup
Chicken Stock
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Garnish: Chopped Fresh parsely, toasted almonds lemon zest- Optional
Directions
- Mix together Cumin, Paprika + 1 teaspoon each Salt & Pepper
- Season both sides of Chicken ( you can do this early in the day or even the day before)
- Pre heat oven to 400 Heat 1 Tablespoon Olive oil in a LARGE oven proof pan or Shallow Dutch Oven
- Brown Chicken on Both Sides, making sure skin in brown & crunchy
- Remove Chicken from Pan add in Chorizo Potatoes, Onions, Peppers & Garlic
- Toss to coat, Season with Cumin, Paprika mix well, tuck bay leaves into the veg, Lay Chicken on Top
- Roast in oven @ 40 minutes until veg is tender and chicken in cooked
- Place pan back on low burner, Remove Chicken & Veg to serving platter
- Deglaze pan with Vinegar & Stock
- Wilt Greens briefly in hot pan
- Add Greens to serving platter ...Drizzle chicken & Veg with remaining Olive oil Serve, garnished with fresh parsley or not and a sprinkled of toasted almonds & lemon zest or not.
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