"Oh-crud-what-did-I-put-in-this-lemme-write-it down-real-quick" Chicken
I had to write this down tonight so I wouldn't forget. My big problem w/ cooking is repeatable results, which is why I'm so fond of my Ras el Hanout spice mixes.
2 tsp cumin
~1 tsp coriander seed
~1/4 tsp black pepper
~1/2 to 1 tsp allspice
1 Tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
~1/2 to 1 tsp ground ginger
~ 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes (optional)
~4 lb chicken thighs and legs, skin and excess fat removed. Note: If desired, you can leave the skin on some of the thighs and brown them, but this is a pain in the ass and requires scraping skin off the bottom of your Dutch oven. I gave up after 4 pieces. ("Bored now.") I also used a free-range chicken so it wasn't nearly as fatty as using a battery-raised chicken.
2 onions, halved and sliced thin
4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
~2-3 Tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 C red wine. Or so.
~2 C broth, or to cover
1 large sweet potato, halved lengthwise and cut into large pieces
(I would have added carrots but I ran out of room in the pot)
Grated zest from one nicely scrubbed lemon (Yea, Microplane!)
(ETA) 1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Toast cumin, coriander seed, allspice and pepper in dry skillet; pour into heat-safe container. When cool enough, grind spices in your spice grinder (a coffee grinder used only for spices), then combine with paprika, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.
Have red wine, broth or other liquid ready to deglaze pan. If you don't have liquids ready, you might be doomed. Just saying.
In a heavy Dutch oven, saute onion in olive oil on med or med-high heat until they brown and soften. Watch that they don't burn on the bottom. I used a ton of onions this time, and didn't bother to caramelize them a whole lot because I was tired of standing.
Shove onion to the side of the pot.
Add minced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add dry spices and stir for about 30 sec. Add tomato paste. Watch the hell out of it!!!!
Deglaze with wine and stir the hell out of it. Add additional broth if necessary.
After you deglaze and scrape up yummy stuff from the bottom of the pan, place chicken pieces in, making sure that every piece is level and will able to be submerged in the broth. Add Sweet potato pieces. Add more broth if needed. In this batch, the sweet potato was not submerged at first, but sank down as the chicken cooked.
At this point, you have two cooking options: 1. Simmer for ~1 hour on the stovetop, which requires some watching to make sure it doesn't either a)boil or b) just sit there and not do anything. Recommended when it's too damn hot to turn your oven on.
2. Bring the liquid to a boil on the stovetop, then turn off and cover the pot with a piece of foil. Place the lid on the pot and try to seal the edges with the foil. Then bake in a 300 deg. F oven for about an hour.
I got tired of checking the progress using Option 1, so I switched to Option 2 after about 30 min.
Remove from oven/stovetop, remove lid and let cool a bit. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and maybe some chopped cilantro if you have any. Fresh pita bread is nice too.
The result: YUM!
2 tsp cumin
~1 tsp coriander seed
~1/4 tsp black pepper
~1/2 to 1 tsp allspice
1 Tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
~1/2 to 1 tsp ground ginger
~ 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes (optional)
~4 lb chicken thighs and legs, skin and excess fat removed. Note: If desired, you can leave the skin on some of the thighs and brown them, but this is a pain in the ass and requires scraping skin off the bottom of your Dutch oven. I gave up after 4 pieces. ("Bored now.") I also used a free-range chicken so it wasn't nearly as fatty as using a battery-raised chicken.
2 onions, halved and sliced thin
4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
~2-3 Tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 C red wine. Or so.
~2 C broth, or to cover
1 large sweet potato, halved lengthwise and cut into large pieces
(I would have added carrots but I ran out of room in the pot)
Grated zest from one nicely scrubbed lemon (Yea, Microplane!)
(ETA) 1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Toast cumin, coriander seed, allspice and pepper in dry skillet; pour into heat-safe container. When cool enough, grind spices in your spice grinder (a coffee grinder used only for spices), then combine with paprika, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.
Have red wine, broth or other liquid ready to deglaze pan. If you don't have liquids ready, you might be doomed. Just saying.
In a heavy Dutch oven, saute onion in olive oil on med or med-high heat until they brown and soften. Watch that they don't burn on the bottom. I used a ton of onions this time, and didn't bother to caramelize them a whole lot because I was tired of standing.
Shove onion to the side of the pot.
Add minced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add dry spices and stir for about 30 sec. Add tomato paste. Watch the hell out of it!!!!
Deglaze with wine and stir the hell out of it. Add additional broth if necessary.
After you deglaze and scrape up yummy stuff from the bottom of the pan, place chicken pieces in, making sure that every piece is level and will able to be submerged in the broth. Add Sweet potato pieces. Add more broth if needed. In this batch, the sweet potato was not submerged at first, but sank down as the chicken cooked.
At this point, you have two cooking options: 1. Simmer for ~1 hour on the stovetop, which requires some watching to make sure it doesn't either a)boil or b) just sit there and not do anything. Recommended when it's too damn hot to turn your oven on.
2. Bring the liquid to a boil on the stovetop, then turn off and cover the pot with a piece of foil. Place the lid on the pot and try to seal the edges with the foil. Then bake in a 300 deg. F oven for about an hour.
I got tired of checking the progress using Option 1, so I switched to Option 2 after about 30 min.
Remove from oven/stovetop, remove lid and let cool a bit. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and maybe some chopped cilantro if you have any. Fresh pita bread is nice too.
The result: YUM!