Test Kitchen Notes
WHO: Danielle_centoni is a food editor living in Portland, Oregon.
WHAT: A simple, one-pot chicken dinner, heartened with spices and brightened with dried fruit.
HOW: Sear chicken thighs; then sauté onion and garlic with spices. Add the chicken back in, along with broth and dried fruit, simmer, and eat it over couscous 30 minutes later.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Simple recipe, big flavors. Chicken thighs stay moist, spices make it sing, and fruit makes it barely sweet—and since it cooks in just over half an hour, it's a shoe-in for a weeknight dinner served with rice, couscous, bulgar, or any other grain. The only caveat is that preserved lemon may not readily available (though you can order it online), and without it, the recipe would not be the same. All in all, a recipe we're moving into our regular rotation! —The Editors
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
-
1 teaspoon
olive oil
-
6
bone-in chicken thighs
-
1
yellow onion, one half diced, one half thinly sliced
-
3
garlic cloves, minced
-
1 teaspoon
ground cumin
-
1 teaspoon
ground coriander
-
1 teaspoon
kosher salt
-
1/2 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
-
1/2 teaspoon
ground ginger
-
1/4 teaspoon
ground allspice
-
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
-
1/8 teaspoon
ground cloves
-
1 pinch
saffron
-
1 1/2 cups
chicken broth
-
1/2 cup
halved, dried black Mission figs
-
1/4 cup
diced dried apricots
-
1/4
preserved lemon, skin and flesh, diced
-
Toasted pine nuts and chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
-
Couscous or another grain, to serve
Directions
-
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, and allow to sear until golden brown and can be easily loosened from the pot, about 5 minutes. Turn over and sear the other side, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to a plate.
-
Add the onions to the pot and saute until translucent and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add the cumin, coriander, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, black pepper, and cloves. Stir to combine.
-
Heat the chicken broth and crumble in the saffron. Pour into the pot, stirring to scrape up any browned bits. Add the browned chicken thighs, the figs, apricots and preserved lemon. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked through, about 30 minutes.
-
Serve alongside couscous, garnished with toasted pine nuts and chopped fresh parsley.
See what other Food52ers are saying.