Preview: Lemon Chicken with Pine Nuts and Olives

by Dawn T in Rouxbe Recipes

Upgradeflash

Text Recipe
Comments

Step 1: Marinating the Chicken

Marinating the Chicken

To marinate the chicken, pour the olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes and lemon zest into a large dish and stir to combine.

Prepare the chicken by first cutting off the backbone. Set the bones aside. Trim off any excess fat from the chicken and discard. Using the heel of a heavy knife, cut the bones into 2" -inch pieces. Refrigerate all of the bones for making the short stock later.

Coat the chicken in the marinade. Cover and place into the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or preferably overnight.

  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 whole lemon (zest of)
  • 4 whole chicken legs (backbone attached)

Step 2: Preparing the Short Stock

Preparing the Short Stock

To prepare the short shock, start by roughly chopping the celery, carrots and onion. Clean and roughly chop the leek and set everything aside.

Heat a medium pot over high heat. Once hot, add the oil, followed by the bones. Let cook for a few minutes, without touching them, until you get a nice golden color. Be careful when turning, as the fat may splatter up. Let the bones caramelize on the other side. Then add the vegetables and garlic cloves. Let the vegetables cook for a few minutes. Once they start to color and soften, deglaze with the white wine. Once the wine has reduced, add the water, parsley, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring this to a very gentle boil, then turn down and let simmer for about an hour.

For a nice, clear stock, skim off any impurities while it's gently simmering. Make sure the stock doesn’t boil.

  • 1 rib celery
  • 1 carrot
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1/2 leek
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2 lb chicken bones (or use backbone attached to chicken legs)
  • 1/3 head garlic
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • 3 cups cold water
  • 1/4 bunch parsley
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns

Step 3: Cooking the Chicken

Cooking the Chicken

Preheat your oven to 350° degrees Fahrenheit. Place the pine nuts onto a tray and toast until golden, about 4 to 6 minutes. Once the pine nuts are done, set them aside and turn the oven up to 375° degrees Fahrenheit.

Heat a large, oven-proof fry pan over high heat. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Once the pan is hot, add the oil, and place the chicken skin-side down. Fry the chicken on the first side until golden brown. You may need to turn the heat down slightly. Season the backside with salt and pepper and once the chicken has nice color, turn it over. Place into the oven to finish cooking for approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • kosher salt (to taste)
  • freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Step 4: Mise en Place for the Sauce

Mise en Place for the Sauce

To prepare the mise en place for the sauce, first grate the onion. By grating the onion, it will easily dissolve into the sauce. Grate the ginger right over the onion. Next, émincé the garlic. Remove the pits from the olives and slice. Set everything aside, while you check the chicken.

  • 5 tbsp onion
  • 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger
  • 1 tbsp garlic
  • 1/3 cup green olives

Step 5: Finishing the Chicken and Making the Sauce

Finishing the Chicken and Making the Sauce

Strain the stock and skim off any excess fat from the top, if there is any. Discard most of the fat from the fry pan. Place the pan over medium heat and add the onion, ginger and garlic. Scrape up any bits from the bottom and let cook for a few minutes or until soft and translucent.

Add the saffron and lemon juice. Let this reduce for a minute or so, again scraping up any bits. Add the chicken stock and let simmer until it has reduced by about half. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Roughly chop the cilantro. Once the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly, add the honey, olives and pine nuts. Turn off the heat and add the butter. Taste for seasoning and add the chopped cilantro just before you are ready to serve.

  • 2 cups short stock (or dark chicken stock)
  • 1 pinch saffron
  • 1 lemon (juice of)
  • 1 tbsp (heaping) honey
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp fresh cilantro
  • kosher salt (to taste)
  • freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Notes

The short stock for this recipe is super easy and will add great flavor to this dish. If you don’t have the time to make it, you can use a pre-made stock and omit Step 2. For an even richer short stock, you could use chicken stock instead of water.

Related Tips & Techniques

Cs_marinating_t2_good_thumbnail

What is a Marinade?

Cs_poultry_fund_t3_thumbnail

Poultry Legs & Cooking

 Debone_chicken_thumbnail

How to Butcher a Whole Chicken

 Dd_grated_onion_still_thumbnail

Grating Onions by Hand

 Dd_what_is_emince_poster_thumbnail

What is Emince?
Dd_how_to_buy_garlic_thumbnail

How to Buy and Prepare Garlic

 Dd_mis-en-place_thumbnail

What is Mise en Place?

 Dd_chicken_stock_alt_thumbnail

Chicken Stock Alternatives

Related Cooking School Lessons

Cs_marinating_t3_onecolumn

How to Marinate Foods

 Cs_poultry_fund_t1_onecolumn

Poultry Fundamentals

 Cs_panfryingpf_onecolumn

How to Pan Fry

Cs_pansauces_l5b_onecolumn

How to Make Pan Sauce

 Cs_stocks_onecolumn

How to Make Stock | Fundamentals

 Cs_stock_l3_onecolumn

How to Make Short Stock

Liz S

Very tasty

I enjoyed this dish. It was very economical as 6 legs with back on was only $6.00. It was a bit time consuming with making the stock but very satisfying making it from "scratch". Unfortunately I only had time to marinate for 2 hours and next time will marinate overnight. I left out the olives as my family doesn't like them but end result was great with a lemony taste and complex sauce. I am ashamed to admit that despite your warning of the handle being hot coming out of the oven, that I did grab it on the stove without a cloth. I'm sure I won't make that mistake again and promptly put an oven mitt on the handle!

Sandra R

Lovely combination, but different than anticipated

I made this dish for a quiet little Thanksgiving with my boyfriend. I haven't used saffron in a while and particularly enjoyed it in the combination with pine nuts.
However, I was hoping for a more complex taste for the sauce. While cilantro, olives, saffron, and pine nuts make for an interesting combination, the flavors didn't fuse as harmoniously as I anticipated. It seemed to me, that especially the olives neither blended in nor stood out and ended up being somewhat distracting.
Next time I will perhaps omit the olives, add some more lemon zest to the sauce, and a good tablespoon of creme fraiche. I might also add a tablespoon of fig or apricot jam to enhance the fruitiness.

Brenda L

Lovely Combination

Perfect Dish. Did it just like recommended, one of the Best dishes I have ever made and my favorite Rouxbe RCP I've made so far!

I wouldn't change one thing in this recipe, including the olives,which my Husband thinks he doesn't like.
A masterful layering of flavor !

George C

Substitute for Pine Nuts

My son has an allergy to nuts. Would it hurt the dish to leave them out, or is there something I can substitute instead?

Ken R
Rouxbe Staff

Re: Substitute for Pine Nuts

Hi George- Does your son have an allergy to all nuts or pine nuts in particular?

You can certainly omit them if there are no safe alternatives or you can use a seed (i.e sunflower) if you still want the texture that pine nuts would provide. It would yield a different flavor, of course, so it's up to you if you want to omit or substitute for a safe alternative. Good luck and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

George C

Allergy

It is all nuts according to the doctor when he was tested. They think he may outgrow it, but he does not want to try nuts yet. I will try it without the pine nuts, Thank you for the response!

Dawn T
Rouxbe Staff

Re: Allergy to Nuts and Substitution

If you don't want to use nuts at all, as we mentioned it is perfectly fine to leave them out entirely. However, if you still want to add something to replace the pine nuts, you could add a small amount of golden raisins. Of course the texture and flavor will be totally than the pine nuts, but it would still be nice. Hope that helps. Cheers!

Wrk N

Pinenuts are seeds NOT nuts

Greetings All,
I too have an allergy to nuts ..... ALL NUTS.
After some reading found out that pinenuts are seeds.
I have eaten them with no problems.. i. e. wheezing, swelling, itching or trip to the emergency room.

But this can get tricky when eating pesto out. .... Walnuts vs pinenuts

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut

But I would still advise caution

Ken R
Rouxbe Staff

Re: Seed and Nuts

HI- Regarding allergies, it is best to use caution. Peanuts are not botanically "nuts" either (they are legumes), but many people who are allergic to them also have "tree nut" allergies.

Coconuts are also technically seeds, but comparatively few people have a coconut allergy when compared to other allergies, but nonetheless the incidence of lesser known allergies (like sesame and coconut) is increasing.

Marilyn

Olives

Can I use Greek olives for this? I have some leftover form a salad I made.

Ken R
Rouxbe Staff

Re: olives

Of course you can, not a problem. Any substitution changes the essence of a dish, but this will work out just fine. I hope this helps!

Jim R

Great recipe!

When I first looked at this recipe I thought it was very involved, but it looked so-o-o good that I just had to try it. It was supprisingly easy and very tasty. I made the short stock first thing in the morning, strained it and let it sit. While the stock was simmering, I marinated the chicken. everything took me about 1 3/4 hours for the first time. Then started cooking the chicken and sinishing the sauce at 5 pm. Sat down to eat at 6 pm. Wasn't nearly as bad as I thought! I substituted chopped walnuts for the pine nuts and I used our homemade pickled olives. I think I would use regular olives as the vinegar was slightly strong in the dish. When I tasted the sauce, all I could think of was "lemon explosion", but after adding the honey, it tamed the lemon down to a very delightful flavor. This will definately be made again. Excellent flavors!

Gregory O

sou chef needed

For me this recipe seemed somewhat task demanding in assembling. There was lots to do in a short time! I complicated things by deciding to cook the suggested polenta recipe for the first time too. I learned, at least for me, preparing a more complicated recipe for the first time one should concentrate on that single recipe. Then maybe, with some experience, go ahead and add other new dishes or tasks the second time.

When shopping for all the ingredients, I also learned saffron is more expensive than gold! The supplier kept it locked up behind the counter! It did add an interesting flavor to the sauce and made for some great dinner conversation too!

You must be a Rouxbe student to ask questions and comment. If you are already a Rouxbe student, please login. Note: Individual lessons purchased a-la-carte do not include this service.