Chicken with Clementines

Amarante

Sat, Dec 19 2015, 9:19 pm

This was excellent and very easy. Ottollenghi's cookbook JERUSALEM has a lot of excellent recIpes. Worth checking out of the library if you want to explore.

I would double the sauce. Marinating for up to 24 hours adds flavor and of course makes it easier when you are ready to cook. Don't crowd the chicken parts in the pan as you want to get the skin crispy.

Chicken with Clementines

Source: Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Ingredients

6 1/2 tablespoons Arak (or Ouzo or Pernod) I used Pernod
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange (or clementine) juice
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (a mix of thighs and drumsticks is nice)
4 clementines, unpeeled, sliced thin
a few sprigs of thyme
2 to 3or fennel bulbs) cut lengthwise and then into quarters
2 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together arak, oil, orange and lemon juices, mustard, brown sugar and salt. Season with pepper, to taste.

• If roasting immediately: Place chicken skin side up in large roasting pan with clementine slices, thyme sprigs, onion pieces (or fennel wedges) and crushed fennel seeds (if using). Pour sauce over top and gently toss everything together with your hands.

• If you are marinating: Place chicken with clementine slices, thyme sprigs, onion pieces (or fennel wedges), and crushed fennel seeds (if using) in a large mixing bowl or ziplock bag. Turn several times to coat. Marinate chicken for several hours or overnight.

Pdreheat oven to 475 degrees. After 30 minutes, check on the chicken. If the skin is browning too quickly, turn the oven down to 400ºF and continue roasting until the skin is brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes longer. I roast the chicken at 475ºF for 45 minutes and at 400ºF for 10 minutes, but every oven is different, so just keep an eye on it. Remove pan from the oven.

Transfer chicken and clementines and onion pieces with juices to a serving platter. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Optional: Pour cooking liquid into a small saucepan. Place over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then simmer until sauce is reduced and you are left with about 1/3 cup. You can degrease by using a spoon to remove some of the fat from top of the sauce. Pour heated sauce over chicken.

etky

Sun, Dec 20 2015, 12:58 am

I would try it but I, llike many Israelis of my generation, can't stand the overwhelming smell of clementines.
It immediately throws us back to winter school days when classrooms reeked of clementines - the ubiquitous accompaniment back then to the standard chocolate spread or "white cheese" sandwiches that we would take to school. The pungent smell would linger for hours in stuffy classrooms.
Other than that, the recipe looks like an interesting combination of tastes using winter ingredients, though I'm not partial to anise flavored foods either Sad

.
For those who do like these two tastes it looks like a good and easy recipe.

Amarante

Sun, Dec 20 2015, 7:30 am

etky wrote:

.
For those who do like these two tastes it looks like a good and easy recipe.

The Israeli equivalent of Proust's Madeleine. LOL

I have the opposite visceral association with clementines or mandarins as they are sometimes called in Los Angeles. They are the fruit that I fondly remember from my childhood and going to the fruit stand with my father who did shopping on Thursday. And pomegranates, which for some reason were called Chinese Apples back in Brooklyn.

When I moved to LA, I couldn't find them as none of the small citrus fruits had that distinctive taste. About ten years ago, they became ubiquitous here and are sometimes branded as cuties.

At any rate, if you dislike anise, this is not the recipe for you but if it is clementines that are the issue, orange juice is a fine sub

etky

Sun, Dec 20 2015, 7:42 am

Amarante wrote:

The Israeli equivalent of Proust's Madeleine. LOL

It's really just the smell of the freshly peeled fruit that I can't take but the taste is fine. They even sell bottled Clementine juice here that I could use but there's no getting around the anise for me. Interesting that they only became available about a decade ago on the West Coast.