This simple and delicious dish has come to be known around our house simply as “the chicken.” As in “Mmmm. Smells great. Are you making the chicken?” It’s elemental comfort food. Gently spiced chicken is cooked slowly in a pot with potatoes and garlic –lots of it. 25 cloves of it. The flavor isn’t pungent, though, since the garlic is cooked to a buttery mellowness that blends with the pan juices and gets soaked up by the potatoes.
The recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi is straightforward, but it does involve deep frying the potatoes and garlic before they go into the pot. This isn’t difficult, but it’s a little messy, and it involves your active participation for a half hour or so while you fry them up in batches –time you could spend, say, bathing your daughter, paying bills, or enjoying a cocktail. Lately I’ve been roasting the potatoes and garlic in the oven instead. It saves time, and I think the finished dish tastes just as good (although I miss snacking on the fried potatoes as I work).
Recipe
(Adapted from “Chicken sofrito” in Jerusalem, A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Serves 4.)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 small chicken (around 3 pounds (1/4kg))
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
About 1 1/2 -2 pounds (700-900g) Yukon Gold potatoes
25 cloves of garlic, unpeeled (no, that’s not a typo)
kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
1. Butterfly the chicken by cutting between the breasts with poultry shears or a sharp knife and then prying the carcass open. Dry with paper towels. (If the butterflied bird won’t fit in your pot, you can cut the chicken into pieces. You can also use chicken pieces, of course.)
2. Warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wide, heavy pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Put the chicken flat in the pan skin side down and sear for 4-5 minutes until golden brown. Season all over with the paprika, turmeric, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a few grinds of black pepper and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice.
3. When the chicken is browned, turn it over (skin side up), add the onion and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to low and cook for a total of 90 minutes. Lift the lid now and then to check the amount of liquid in the bottom of the pan. The idea is for the chicken to cook and steam in its own juices, but you may need to add a little bit of water to maintain about 3/4 inch (5mm) of liquid at the bottom of the pan.
4. In the meantime preheat the oven to 425F and peel and cut the potatoes into about a 3/4 inch (2cm) dice. Place them on a rimmed baking sheet with the garlic and drizzle over all the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Sprinkle on a scant 1 teaspoon of salt and toss well to coat. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until the garlic is soft and the potatoes are golden brown. (Ideally, toss the mixture with a spatula once or twice during cooking.)
OR
Pour sunflower oil into a medium saucepan to a depth of 1 1/4 inches (3cm) and place over medium-high heat. Fry the diced potatoes and garlic together in several batches for a bout 6 minutes, until they take some color and crisp up. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.
5. After the chicken has been cooking for about an hour, lift it from the pan and spoon in the cooked potatoes and garlic. Return the chicken to the pan, on top of the potatoes. Cook for 30 minutes more. The chicken should be falling off the bone, and the potatoes should be soaked in the cooking liquid and soft.
Serve drizzled with the remaining lemon juice (and with lemon wedges on the side if you like).
