Chicken with Onions, Lemon and Saffron

total time:: 1 hour

Makes 4 servings

This recipe was purloined from Gwyneth Paltrow’s blog, GOOP. It’s a recipe that Gwynnie apparently enjoyed while dining with Mario Batali at his home. I have no idea why she’s on that show trapising around the world with him when we would so much rather watch Bourdain crisscrossing the globe, eating pig’s colons and cussing it up. Anyway, you’ll be using all kinds of delicious ingredients like preserved lemons, saffron and cinnamon. You’ll cook them in a big mélange and your house will smell like heaven.

ingredients

1 whole chicken, cut into 12 pieces (skin on)
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour seasoned
1 tablespoon each salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup high-heat oil like Safflower
3 large onions, peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
2 whole lemons, cut into paper thin slices
1 large fennel bulb, sliced 1/4" thick
12 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
1/2 cup green olives
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 teaspoon hot pimentón (Spanish paprika)
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup dry white wine (such as Albariño)
1 bunch cilantro, washed
1 whole preserved lemon rinds sliced paper thin
1/4 cup pomegranate pips

directions

1
Preheat oven to 425°F. Rub the chicken pieces with coarse salt, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Aggressively season chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground pepper all over and then dredge them in the seasoned flour. Heat the oil in a large, wide, heavy pot over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Place half of the chicken pieces skin side down into the hot oil and cook for eight to ten minutes or until golden brown and crispy, swirling the oil and rendered fat around the pot every minute or two. Turn the chicken and cook for two minutes on the second side and remove to a warm plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
2
Add the onions, fresh lemon slices, fennel, garlic, olives, saffron, pimentón and cinnamon to the pot and cook until softened and golden, about eight to ten minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Place chicken pieces and drippings from the plate into the onion bed, pushing them so that they’re almost covered with the onion mixture, but with the skin still above the surface of the moist and delicious morass. Place the whole pot, uncovered, into the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
3
Meanwhile tear the cilantro into 1" pieces, toss with the preserved lemon slices and pomegranates and set on the table in a nice bowl. Remove the chicken and serve immediately from the pot, pinching a bit of the cilantro salad over each portion.

Source: jamie