Let’s get one thing straight earlier than we dive into this recipe. So far as I do know, there isn’t a singular dish on the sunny island of Sicily that’s known as Sicilian skillet hen. What I can let you know is that the place is brimming with agricultural riches from which to cook dinner a spectacular hen dish.
If you happen to journey the countryside of Sicily, you’d be onerous pressed to not discover olive groves dotting the panorama, vineyards alongside hillsides, capers rising wild, a wide range of citrus bushes, and olive oil producers from coast to coast. These are simply among the treasures which have put Sicily on the culinary map, and all of them play a task in making this a winner of a recipe.
This tender, tasty one-skillet hen dish borrows the most effective from the Sicilian kitchen. Olives, capers, lemon, and white wine marry in a lip-smacking braising liquid that works magic with golden, meaty hen thighs. Easy, rustic, and an actual keeper. I think about it straightforward sufficient for a weeknight supper, but additionally one thing I’d fortunately serve to firm. It will make you wish to hightail it to the shores of Italy’s greatest island.
Easy Cooking, Large Flavors
That is easy, rustic cooking that’s constructed on layers of taste. You begin by getting hen thighs golden brown. From there, you sauté a purple onion, then add garlic, capers, olives, a complete sliced lemon, and oregano. A beneficiant pour of white wine goes subsequent, serving because the braising liquid for the hen. Cowl the skillet, good and cushty, and depart it to bubble till the hen is tender and cooked by way of.
One factor is for sure about this dish—it provides no scarcity of taste. Take a spoonful of the pan juices and also you’ll get a salty, briny kick from the olives and capers, successful of tang from the entire lemon, and the fragrant triple risk of onions, garlic, and oregano.
Suggestions for Making Sicilian Rooster
Regardless that this recipe includes a couple of steps, it’s a comparatively easy one to deal with. Listed here are a couple of pointers for hitting it out of the park.
- If time permits, salt the hen prematurely. Salt it as much as 24 hours prematurely and maintain it refrigerated till you’re able to cook dinner. Doing so makes the completed hen particularly flavorful.
- Don’t rush the browning. Make sure to get the hen pores and skin good and golden. It is going to make the dish tastier and prettier to take a look at, too.
- Pit the olives. No person needs the disagreeable shock of biting down on an olive pit. Both purchase pitted olives or pit them your self. Use the facet of a chef’s knife or a mallet to softly pound the olives and take away the pits. Simple!
Variations You Ought to Attempt
If you wish to mess around with this recipe, there are many methods. Listed here are some concepts.
- Use a distinct number of olives. I favor the buttery Castelvetrano olives native to Sicily, however different varieties will work deliciously, resembling Cerignola, Manzanilla, and Picholine.
- Swap in a Meyer lemon. If you may get your fingers on this juicy selection, use it instead of the lemon.
- Add a pinch or two of crushed purple pepper flakes. A contact of warmth is perhaps a pleasant addition.
- Select a distinct leafy inexperienced. As an alternative of kale, use chard, spinach, collards, or dandelion greens. You may even use radicchio should you like bitter flavors.
- Use a complete, cut-up hen that’s about 4 kilos as an alternative of hen thighs. Ask your butcher to chop every breast in half down the middle. Additionally, keep watch over the breasts as they cook dinner, since they could be completed earlier than the opposite cuts are tender. Merely pull them out whereas the thighs and legs end cooking and return them to the skillet earlier than serving.
What to Serve With Sicilian Rooster
Serving choices for Sicilian skillet hen are many. It may actually be served by itself, with crusty bread on the facet for sopping up the briny juices. A chewy cooked grain, resembling farro or sorghum would work nicely. You may additionally spoon the hen over mashed potatoes or serve it with a facet of roasted ones. And since that is Italian cooking we’re speaking about, a easy pasta tossed with olive oil on the facet could be appropriate, too.
Sure, You Can Plan Forward
Like so many dishes, this one is greatest served scorching off the range. That stated, I’ve loved it on two events made fully forward of time. Simply cowl the skillet with a lid or foil and retailer it within the fridge for as much as a day.
To reheat, depart the lid on and set it over medium-low warmth. Since among the liquid will probably have been absorbed into the opposite elements, it's possible you'll wish to add a couple of splashes of hen broth and even water to the skillet because it heats.
Components
- 8 bone-in, skin-on hen thighs (about 3 1/2 kilos)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon additional virgin olive oil
- 1 medium purple onion, lower in half by way of the basis and sliced into skinny half moons
- 3 giant cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 cup crisp, dry white wine like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio
- 1/2 cup low-sodium hen broth
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced, together with the pores and skin
- 3/4 cup pitted Castelvetrano olives or different meaty inexperienced olives
- 3 tablespoons drained capers
- 3 packed cups lacinato kale, stems eliminated, roughly chopped
Technique
Put together the hen:
Use a pair of kitchen shears or a pointy knife to trim any extra pores and skin draping off the hen thighs. Trim off any seen yellow fats alongside the underside of the hen. Season with salt, scattering it over either side.
If time permits, put the hen in a shallow dish or bowl and retailer it uncovered within the fridge in a single day. It will infuse the hen with further taste and dry the pores and skin, so it will get additional crispy when cooked.
Cook dinner the hen:
Warmth a big, deep skillet (at the least 12 inches in diameter) over medium-high warmth. As soon as scorching, add the olive oil and swirl the skillet to coat. Organize the hen thighs pores and skin side-down and cook dinner till the pores and skin is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip the hen over and cook dinner for 4 to five minutes till golden brown. Switch the hen to a shallow dish. The hen is not going to be cooked by way of.
In case your skillet will not be large enough to accommodate all of the hen directly, brown them in 2 batches.
Cook dinner the onions:
Scale back the warmth to medium and add the onions in the identical skillet. No want so as to add extra oil. Sauté till tender, 4 to five minutes. Stir within the garlic, wine, hen broth, oregano, lemon, olives, and capers.
Add the hen again in:
Nestle the hen thighs, pores and skin side-up within the cooking liquid. Cowl the skillet with a lid or tightly with foil. Regulate the warmth so the sauce bubbles at a excessive simmer. Cook dinner the hen till it's cooked by way of and really tender when lower with a knife, 35 to 40 minutes.
If there isn’t a lot liquid left within the skillet, add a splash or two of low-sodium hen broth or water. There must be pan juices, however the hen shouldn’t be swimming in liquid.
Add the kale:
Tuck the chopped kale into the cooking liquid beneath and between the hen. Cook dinner till the kale is tender, lined, 4 to five minutes. In case your skillet simply barely suits the hen, take the thighs out onto a plate to cook dinner the kale, after which nestle them again in for serving.
Serve:
You'll be able to serve the hen straight from the skillet.
Retailer leftovers for as much as 3 days within the fridge. Reheat it on the range high or within the microwave till warmed by way of. As for freezing, your greatest wager could be to chill the hen fully, then stash in a freezer bag with the air pressed out, the place will probably be good for about 1 month. Defrost in a single day within the fridge, then reheat on the range or within the microwave.
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