Back, with the "exotic: chicken with olives and prunes

Ah, ragazzi, Annalena has been absent.  You must recall  that she has another job, besides being mentor (mentress?), to the culinarily curious.  Some of you actually MAKE these recipes, while others ( she singles out Jeff N for this),  treat these more as exercises in curiosity about process,  and Annalena acknowledges her role here.

The role, however, does not pay the bills for ingredients, wine, and so forth.  Hence, every day Annalena ventures forth to her task as attorney.  Lately, that task has been, shall we say, more than a bit stressful.  But as Barry Manilow sings (and "GLEE" reminds us that we are ALL closeted Barry Manilow fans - you KNOW you are)  it's "daybreak/all around the world."   Or something like that.  Whatever.

But to the task at hand:  new recipes.  Annalena is always curious to try things where ostensibly unrelated ingredients come together.    Normally, this happens in the context of a restaurant where Annalena will see, for example, shrimp, beets and reduced sweet wine coming together (bad example:  she would NOT eat this, but you know whereof she speaks, yes?).   And then she goes home and plays with the concept, to see if she can do it.  Sometimes this is more successful than others.

One combination that intrigues Annalena endlessly is the conmingling of dried fruit, and protein.  You can find her recipe for lamb with dried apricots on this site, as well as the variation with fresh quince.  So when she saw a recipe that combined chicken and prunes, well.... this called for further investigation.

Truth to be told, ragazzi, this recipe, which appeared in its original form in the New York Times, was called a "tagine," and called for a "tagine" like pan.  Now, a show of hands.   Besides Jay , how many of you have a tagine?

She thought so.  These heavy clay pots are indeed very useful, and Annalena MAY have some; however, she does not know.  She has had these pots for years, and is not at all certain that they will stand up to stovetop cooking.  Few things in life terrify Annalena more than a clay pot shattering and sending shrapnel in all directions, potentially lodging a shard in an unprotected area of Annalena's body.  Perhaps losing a well cooked dinner is  up there, so she decided that she would not go down this path.  It was a smart decision.  You can make this dish without the clay pot.  You can make it in a heavy, large skilled.  That is what Annalena did.  And you should make it.  It is really good.

In addition to the chicken and prunes,  you are going to need green olives.  Picholine are what is called for, but get what you can get.    As Annalena will explain, she did not pit her olives.  If you are concerned about pits, well, pit yours before you cook, but for heaven's sakes, do NOT buy the ones that have been pitted already.  These sad specimens have lost  pretty much all of their olive flavor, and retain just the taste of their bring.

Now, let us begin.  You need 10-12 chicken thighs, on the bone, and with their skin.  Yes, you read that right.  It sometimes seems that it is impossible to find such things, but look for them.  If a butcher has cut up a chicken to make boneless, skinless chicken breast, there are thighs SOMEWHERE.  Pat them dry, and salt and pepper them.  Indeed, it is rather essential to this recipe that the chicken be as dry as possible, for reasons we shall see.  You can accomplish this, if you have time, by laying your chicken, skin side up, on a large platter in your refrigerator, overnight.  If you cannot do this, then work with as much paper towel as is necessary.

You will need to chop a large onion into fairly small pieces.  Also, mince a couple of cloves of garlic.

You will also need smoked paprika.  You will find this sometimes as Spanish pimenton.  Ask about it, because there are different types.  You do NOT want 'pimenton dulce," which is sweet paprika.  You want  hot stuff.  DO NOT substitute chili peppers.  The original recipe called for a teaspoon of the hottest one you can find.  Annalena followed these instructions, and will double the quantity next time.  You need an equal quantity of ground cumin, which you can mix together with the pimenton in small container.

You also need a cup of pitted prunes, and a cup of those green olives.  If you are of a mind with Annalena and feel that the pits add a bit of flavor to the dish, all you need do is crack the olives  - not the pits.  You can do this by hitting them, once or twice, with the side of your big knife.  It will be therapeutic (especially to those of you who litigate).    You also need a cup of chicken stock.

Now, cominciamo (we begin), with an interesting step.  Get your big skillet really, REALLY hot, over a high flame,  but do not add any fat.  Nope, no fat.  When it is so hot you can smell the metal, put the chicken thighs in, skin side down.  Don't overfill the pan,  because you want browning not steaming.  Watch what happens:  the fat will begin to melt from the thighs, and there will be a lot of it (would that such would happen to Annalena's thighs).  This method, if the chicken was in fact dry when you put it in the pan, will allow you to check, after 3-4 minutes to see if the skin has browned, without tearing the skin.  If it is, take it out of the pan and put it to the side.  Do this in batches if you need to.


You will have more fat than you can believe, and way more than you need. So pour off all put a film and then lower your heat  and add the onion and garlic.  Try not to brown them, just soften them, but if you do brown them, so what?  Now add the spices and stir, stir stir, for about a minute.  Add the prunes, the olives, the chicken stock, and a tablespoon of unsalted butter.  Stir this for about five minutes.  Now, put the chicken on top of it, skin side up, lower the heat really low, cover the pan, and go away for at least 30 minutes, preferably 40.

Your house is going to smell wonderful while this cooks.  And the chicken is going to be extremely moist and tender and delicious.  The play of the different ingredients off of each other is superb.  IF  you happen to have some preserved lemons (and if you don't , why  don't you?), chop a bit of one over the dish before you serve it.

This is 5-6 servings, with either rice, or couscous, which will take you no more than 20 minutes to cook (if you are making rice).

Try this, bambini.  If you are feeling like you are in a chicken rut, this will take you out of it faster than you can say CLUCK.