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Braised Chicken With Rosemary, Chickpeas and Salted Lemon
![Braised Chicken With Rosemary, Chickpeas and Salted Lemon](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/10/22/dining/yk-rosemary-chicken-with-salted-lemon-and-chickpeas/merlin_162312300_34263f89-3d23-4a52-bb0e-8e7923d30b56-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2½pounds whole chicken legs or bone-in, skin-on thighs
- 1lemon, halved lengthwise
- 1teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 2tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
- 1medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4garlic cloves, smashed
- 1fresh rosemary sprig
- ½cup dry white wine
- 1(15-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
- 1(15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed
- Black pepper
- 4cups hearty greens like spinach, kale or mustard greens, trimmed and torn
- 1cup mix of fresh herbs like dill, parsley and mint
- Full-fat Greek yogurt, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
If using whole chicken legs, cut the joint just enough to bend the leg, and make a deep, 2-inch-long cut on the meat without cutting all the way through.
- Step 2
Cut one half of the lemon crosswise into ⅛-inch-thick half moons. Transfer them to a medium bowl. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and use a fork to lightly crush the slices and release the juice. Cut the other lemon half into wedges for serving.
- Step 3
Pat the chicken pieces dry and season both sides with salt. In a large lidded skillet or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high. Working in batches if necessary, add the chicken pieces skin-side down, cover, and cook until the skin is golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Flip, cover and cook for another minute or two, then transfer chicken to a plate. If working in batches, add 2 more tablespoons oil to the skillet, sear the remaining chicken legs then transfer them to the plate.
- Step 4
Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan. Add the onions and sauté until just softened, about 2 minutes, then add the garlic and rosemary and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the white wine, then add the tomatoes with their juices, crushing the tomatoes with your hands as you go. Rinse the tomato can with 1 cup water. Add the water and the chickpeas to the pan. Season lightly with salt and black pepper.
- Step 5
Bring to a boil, return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender, 15 to 18 minutes.
- Step 6
Uncover the pot and transfer the chicken to bowls or a large rimmed serving platter. Add the sliced lemon plus any accumulated juices to the pot, increase the heat to medium-high and allow to thicken slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Discard the rosemary stem, then stir in the hearty greens, remove from heat and season with additional salt if needed.
- Step 7
To serve, spoon the stew over the chicken legs, top with a handful of the herbs, yogurt and fresh lemon wedges for squeezing. Drizzle with olive oil, if desired, and serve with steamed couscous or slices of crusty bread for dipping.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I’ve made this a few times now. It’s always great, but here are my additions to make it stellar: - Leave the top off while you crisp the chicken skin at the beginning - Use a 28 oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes. Solves the water problem. - Don’t add any water! Just add a little more wine if needed. - Sub the salted lemon for one finely chopped preserved lemon (this is KILLER) - Allow the broth (with the greens!) to simmer for a while, at least 15 minutes - Finish with labne!
The "50 minute cooking time" is only if you want a very immature and not very rich sauce. I cooked down my sauce for a good 2 hours. Made a huge difference in quality of the taste, the ability of the herbs etc. to penetrate the sauce more deeply. Everyone loved it. I added a bit more white wine then the recipe called for--about 3/4 of a cup and instead of adding a "can of water" I added an 8 ounce can of diced tomatoes instead. No water.
I would think that that amount of “cooking” would be sufficient for spinach. Kale or mustard greens will take some simmer time to be as tender as the spinach.
so is all the cooking of the greens consist of just stirring them into the broth and then removing from heat?
I believe preserved lemons would work even better! More complex flavor. I would add some of the preserved juice as well, but be mindful of the amount as the flavor will be stronger.
I would cook the hearty greens with the chicken for 6 or 7 minutes and then stir the herbs in the last minute or so
@DeeAnn: The main sources of calories in this dish are the chicken (140 cal per thigh), chickpeas (143 cal/half cup), and olive oil (119 cal per TB). Veg, yoghurt, and other ingredients would add minimal amounts. So it seems 920 calories might be about twice the correct value unless someone consumes more than one portion. You can easily look up this kind of information on the internet.
Put me in the “really good” camp. I used less liquid than called for, but a whole 28-oz can of tomatoes, and a deconstructed 3-1/2 lb chicken. Taking a reader’s advice, I added a heaping teaspoon of harissa for a pleasant zing. Polenta made a good base. Even the fussiest eaters dug right in. Thanks!
The greens (mustard, collards or kale) should be precooked.
Bare bones of the recipe are good here. Something seems to be missing. If the author was aiming for a middle eastern or Mediterranean dish, I'd suggest adding harissa or saffron to give it the "something else" it needs.
Very disappointing. Much too sour. Tonight I will add olives and another can of beans with their liquid to see if it improves. Disappointed my earlier comment was pulled down, hopefully NYT can handle at least a bit of negativity.
Added Middle Eastern baharat 7 spice mix and golden raisins for a slightly sweeter, more traditional tagine taste. Delicious!
i can imagine that. I used spinach and it cooked perfectly in the hot stew.
I thought this was OK. We used whole legs and the meat payoff is not substantial. Luckily there’s enough vegetables and beans that we felt it was pretty good. I’m not a fan of chicken with tomato though, and that combined with the mess from browning the chicken legs means I probably won’t make this again. Family thought it just OK too.
I’ve made this twice now, and I love it! But a made a few changes the second time and I think they enhanced it. Before returning the chicken to the pot, I removed the skin and crisped it in a small frying pan. I sliced it and served it with the herbs and yogurt. Then, after the chicken had finished the 15-18 min simmer in the pot, I pulled the chicken from the bone and served the dish more like a stew. So good!! Even my three year old loves it!!
It was pretty good. I will make it again. I loved the herb mixture and the yogurt on top. Next time I will try using harissa for some needed oomph. And a preserved lemon, if I knew where to find one. I am in a household of one. The broth seemed skimpy even for one person.
Flawlessly added in a cup of orzo at the same time as the chickpeas. It absorbed some of the sauce so we had a less watery base than shown in the recipe image and added some extra content!
Good base, but the broth was way too sour and bitter from the lemon for our liking. I would half the lemon next time. It could also use a spice to tie it together. Maybe the harissa as others suggested, or even some cumin.
One of the best recipes ever. My husband buys tomatoes by the bushel and smokes/freezes them for the year so I obviously used that instead of canned tomatoes. the combination of salted lemon, rosemary, fresh herbs and yogurt makes this really sing. For me it’s all about flavor, and this really delivers. The chicken was moist and tasty and couscous absorbed so much of the flavor. Divine!
I wish I’d seen the comment about harissa and turmeric before I made this disappointingly mediocre dish. I won’t bother trying it again. I wish I’d followed my usual MO and used skinless, boneless thighs. The skin got gross and I took it off, and bone-in chicken is never worth the hassle.
This was a little too lemony for me. I might make again but just squeeze some lemon juice instead of doing the salted lemon method.
I love this general decide but I gave it a Mediterranean twist (Persian girl here!). Instead of rosemary, I added harissa tot the pan with tumeric before adding liquids to let it bloom. I also added preserved lemon instead of fresh. The recipe is fine if you want cooked chicken. If you want it to be succulent and flavorful, it needs much more cook time in the broth. I cooked it all together for about an hour. You could also transfer to the oven uncovered to keep the chicken crisp on top.
Used thighs, took meat off the bone, and used preserved lemon (1/2, but more would have been good). Delicious.
Flavor was great but instead of simmering on the stove, I left uncovered in a 350* oven for about 60 minutes. Skin was crisp on top and liquid reduced down to an amazing sauce. Will cook again! Loved the salted lemon as well.
I just tried this. I am very disappointed. Note to self: read the comments. If all the comments are directed at fixing the recipe, move on, Ottolenghi or not
Unique and successful combo of flavors. Used Fage 2% greek yogurt and served with side of rice pilaf. All worked great!
My family loved this. What I changed was a larger can of tomatoes, and to slow cook it in the oven (first on 300F then last hour 275F) for a couple hours, lid off for the second hour. This reduced the liquid and made the chicken falling off the bone tender. I used the lemons as a garnish but next time might add them into the pot to bake. Also want to add the kale for a few minutes so it’s slightly cooked.
Delicious dinner. For the 2 of us, 3 small legs cooked as directed, 1/2 can crushed tomatoes, 1/2 can chickpeas, shredded kale cooked about 8 minutes in sauce to which I added some more chicken broth, baharat, and harissa to taste.Served over couscous. Thought yogurt would be superfluous. Tasty, chicken was tender, flavors tagine-like.
I added the lemon in step 4, it needs to simmer much longer to develop its unique bitter flavour from the peel
This was by far the worst NYT recipe! Watery, rubbery, sour and bitter! Even the pairing recommendations were terrible.
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