Spanish Chicken with Lemons and Olives
This Spanish-style chicken dish is delicious with briny, bright flavors that beg to be soaked up with rice or potatoes, even crusty bread. I love how simple the preparation is, with sliced onions and just peeled garlic, no fancy dicing here. You can throw it all together in 30 minutes.
Tips:
Zest your lemon before you cut it.
The cinnamon may seem like an odd addition. It gives this dish a lovely note that you may not detect as cinnamon, but love the results.
The recipe would work with bone-in chicken too. In fact, I think it would be better if my picky eaters would eat that. Cook the chicken for about 30 minutes in the oven if you have the bone on.
Spanish Chicken with Lemons and Olives
Serves 4
PREP 20 minutes
COOK 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breasts or chicken thighs
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup grated parmesan
3 teaspoons smoked paprika, divided
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, one zested then both quartered
1 large yellow onion, sliced
10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup pitted green olives, Spanish or whatever you like
1 pinch ground cinnamon
2 cups whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
1 cup white wine
1 bunch Italian parsley, roughly chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil.
In a pie plate combine the 1/2 cup of flour, parmesan cheese, and 1 teaspoon of paprika. Dredge each of the pieces of chicken in the flour mixture.
Add the chicken pieces to the pan and brown both sides of the chicken, avoiding crowding the pan. You may need to do this in 2 stages. Don’t worry if the chicken isn’t cooked through. You are baking it still. Remove the browned chicken to a plate.
In the same pan add the onions, lemons, zest, garlic, olives, remaining paprika and dash of cinnamon. Add some Kosher salt to break the onions down. Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes until you get a jam-like consistency.
Add the tomatoes and wine and bring to a boil. Cook for a minute or two, then add that tablespoon of flour and stir until combined.
Add the chicken back to the pan, along with its juices, fitting it in amongst the onion mixture. Pop the whole pan in the oven and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Boneless breasts or thighs will take about another 15 minutes. Bone-in chicken longer.
Serve this dish family style with a generous garnish of parsley.