Returning to the table
Eat Plentiful #51
Hello friends, happy to see you again. Thanks for your patience as I hobble back after a LONG hiatus after abandoning my newsletter duties for the last 3 months. This is a typical Aimee thing to do - jumping onto the next shiny thing. I started a new job, which I love and buried myself into work which made me feel like I had a valid reason to dive into the next exciting thing while I let others slide.
I have not stopped cooking, on the contrary. I just haven't taken the time to put pen to paper and share my recipes with you. These are the ones that get me though a busy week, bring back memories, remind me of special people, or just make me feel at home.
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Autumn is definitely poking it’s head. And like every year when the air gets colder, the nights get shorter, I look for comfort in my plate. Comfort as well as efficiency. The beauty of this recipe is that it all happens in the same pan and takes less than 20 mins, the perfect weeknight dinner.
Crispy chicken, caramelised lemon and olive rice
Firstly, there are some basic rules to follow when cooking chicken:
skin on, always
bone out so you cook it more evenly
pat the skin dry so it feels sticky and salt the skin.
cook it low and slow always
Ingredients
4 bone-out, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2lemons, cut in 1cm slices
1 large handful of pitted green olives, smashed and roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
½ medium onion, minced
300gr long-grain white rice, rinsed
750ml of chicken broth
Handful of roughly chopped fresh coriander
Instructions
Prepare the chicken. Put the chicken skin up on a board and cover with parchment paper, with a rolling pin or bottle of wine, flatten the chicken evenly. Use paper towels to pat the chicken thighs until dry on all sides. Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon each salt, pepper and place in heated pan with a drizzle of oil. Cook slowly on medium heat for 10 mins, until the skin is nice and golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Cook the lemons. Add the lemon slices to the same pan and cook until browned and softened about 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Cook the rice. Add the garlic, salt and pepper to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat up to high, add the rice and stir to combine well with all the juices. When the rice becomes translucent, add the broth and cover with a lid for 10 mins.
Remove the pot from the heat, add the caramelised lemons, olives and the browned chicken thighs on top of the rice, skin side up and cover for 5 mins. Allowing the rice to steam the chicken. Serve topped with fresh herbs and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Last week’s highlights
Chef‘s on fire festival in Cascais, most of the big names in Lisbon were there and cooked one dish each on flames during a 3 day festival. It was beautiful and I was lucky enough to work with one of the chefs. On every year at the same time, tickets for next year are already on sale.
See you next week,
Aimee