Crispy Braised Chicken with Sticky Prunes
Ever dream of crispy chicken skin, but tender thigh meat all cooked in red wine? Orange peel, rosemary and olives add depth to this dish while the braise tenderly cooks the chicken meat to perfection. The chicken skin remains above the level of braising liquid and will crunch like a potato chip! Serve over rice or pasta and you’ll impress a crowd. See how it’s made here.
Recipe
Serves 2, Total Time: 1 hr, 15 min
Ingredients:
4 smashed garlic cloves
1 and 1/2 cups red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon is my preferred cooking red)
1 and 1/2 cups boiling chicken stock (I dissolve Better Than Bouillon into boiling water)
2 orange peel strips, plus the juice of an orange
12 prunes
A few sprigs of rosemary
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 onion cut into wedges (through the root end so that they stay together)
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
1/4 cup Castelvetrano olives sliced in half
Thyme leaves for garnishing
Salt and pepper
Serve over rice or pasta
Make it!
Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
In a small bowl, add prunes, garlic, orange peel, rosemary, red wine and boiling chicken stock. Allow to sit for five minutes so that the prunes can start absorbing liquid.
Meanwhile, rub salt and pepper all over your chicken thighs. Place them skin-side down into a cast iron pan. Turn the heat on to medium AFTER you’ve placed them in the pan. Allow them to slowly come up to medium and cook for a total of 12-14 minutes untouched. DON’T TOUCH!! Once the skin starts to peel off of the pan at 12-14 minutes you can move them around to get a perfect golden brown (about 4-5 minutes more). The “cold-pan method” is featured in Molly Baz’s Cook This Book and she attributes the method to Chris Morocco of Bon Appetit. I don’t want to cook my chicken any other way!
Pour your prune and wine mixture into a medium fry pan and simmer over medium-high heat until the liquid starts to reduce. Add the tomato paste and squeeze your orange into the liquid as it simmers, stir frequently. We don’t want it to reduce a lot, just enough for the flavors to meld together. About 5 minutes, then remove from the heat.
Back to the chicken. Keep the heat on medium. After it’s all crisped up, take it out for a moment and put it on a plate lined with paper towels. Add your onions to the rendered chicken fat and let them get golden on each side (2 minutes per side).
Moving the onions around to make room, add the chicken back into the pan but with the skin-side facing up towards you. With the heat still on medium, pour no more than three quarters of the prune and red wine mixture into the pan. Save the last quarter of the liquid for later. But do not pour above the exposed crispy skin. We don’t want any liquid touching the skin, just the meat underneath. Add the Castelvetrano olives into the liquid, fitting them wherever you can.
On the center rack, cook your chicken uncovered for 30 minutes in the oven. Check every 12 minutes to see if the liquid is reducing too much. If so, add a bit more.
Increase the temperature to 450° F and cook for 4-5 more minutes until the prunes and the sauce start to deepen in color.
Garnish with thyme and serve over rice or pasta. Let me know if you have any questions or comments! Enjoy!
