Chicken with Lemons and Olives

I haven't been cooking as much as I'd like lately.  It bums me out.  I look around at all my favorite blogs (and the ones I wish I had time to frequent more regularly) and I see delicious things like Gingammonbread a la A Southern Grace,  Fennnel and Fig salad from Bitchin Camero and even something as simple as slow roasted tomatoes from Smitten Kitchen.  Gosh, it all looks so good, and I have been adding too infrequently to the fray, for my taste.   

But,  I got my druthers together the other night, and threw together this yummy chicken.  I think I may be slightly insane for cooking a chicken in the oven when it's 90 + degrees outside, but that's what central air conditioning is for....give me a "holla" if you agree!

Chicken with Lemons and Olives

- 1 chicken (2 1/2 - 3lbs)

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

- 1 teaspoon turmeric

- 1 red onion

- 1 cup white wine

- 2 cups chicken broth

- 2 tablespoons honey

- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root

- 4 lemons - quartered

- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted

- olive oil to cook brown the chicken

- salt and pepper

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Start by mixing the cinnamon and the turmeric together...

Then rub it all over the chicken, get under the skin as much as possible.

Note:  I was a newbie to turmeric.  It STAINS!  It's a gorgeous color, but it stains.  It stained the counter, the utensils, the cutting board and my finger nails (yes, gross).  Suffice it to say I spent quite a while scrubbing said counters and cutting boards. And my nails?  Cut to the quick, the next day.  Just an fyi.  Next time?  Plastic gloves and much more care will be involved when seasoning with turmeric.   Moving on....

From there, brown the chicken in a generous amount of olive oil.  Use a dutch oven or other pot that can go from stove top to oven.  Another note, don't make the same mistake I did.  Don't try to turn the chicken over too quickly or you may rip the skin off.  It doesn't change the flavor, but it can ruin how it looks,  and looks count in my book (at least when it comes to food!)

While the chicken is browning cut up one, large red onion.

Ain't she a beaut?   
Then,  remove said chicken, set aside and cook the onions in the rendered chicken fat.

Once the onions are soft  (5-10 minutes) deglaze the pan with white wine.   Then add the chicken broth, honey and ginger root and combine.

Make sure to scrape up all the good bits.  Then pop the chicken back into the pot.

Scoop some of the goodness on top of the chicken. 

Cover, and put it in the oven at 370 degrees for 30 minutes.

After 1/2 an hour pull the chicken out of the oven and add the lemons, olives and salt and pepper to taste.   (Not to obsess, but see the missing bit 'o' skin?  Ooooh!  As Handsome Cohorts youngest daughter would say.... "Tartar Sauce!"    That's how Sponge Bob curses, I believe.)

Cover it back up, pop it back in the oven and continue to cook for another 45 minutes.

The Results:
I served this with steamed veggies.   The flavor was tart and sweet all at the same time.  I really enjoyed it.  It was different, but that's a good thing in my book.   The best part?  When I took the left over chicken and turned it into chicken salad.  I forgot to document it though...
"TARTER SAUCE!"

Comments

[Maggie]

This sounds great! I hate getting tumeric colored fingernails.

[[eatingclub] vancouver]

I love the exotic spices on the chicken! Yummy!

[grace]

erinn. your chicken is spiced with cinnamon. you know i can't resist cinnamon, even in a savory dish, and now i'm forced to add this to my ever-growing fray of recipes. :)

[Olga]

Looks great. Funny, I made a soup last night using curry powder and it also stained my nails...not a pretty picture :)

[noble pig]

That looks like a nice sauce. Beautiful!

[Sophie]

We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks :)

You can view our blog here:
http://blog.keyingredient.com/

[maybelles mom (feeding maybelle)]]

I adore this; so comforting and yummy.