Tunisian chicken with olives

meat Tunisian Jewish · regular · 85 min, including 40 hands-on

Chicken legs browned skin-side down, then simmered with blanched cracked green olives, turmeric, garlic and lemon slices, with potatoes cooking in the golden sauce.

Ingredients for two

Method

1. To remove excess salt from the olives, put them in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and repeat with fresh water. Taste: they should still be slightly salty, without harshness or bitterness. Drain and set aside, keeping the saucepan for heating the water in step 4.
2. While the olives blanch, pat the 4 chicken pieces dry with kitchen paper and rub all over with the pepper and 3 g salt. Finely chop the onion, crush the garlic in a garlic press, and peel and cut the potatoes into 4 cm wedges. Thinly slice half the lemon, remove the pips and reserve the other half for its juice. Finely chop the parsley.
3. Heat the oil over a medium-high heat in a 28 cm sauté pan with a lid. Lay the 4 chicken pieces skin-side down in a single layer and leave undisturbed for 5–6 minutes until the skin is golden and crisp and has released its fat. Turn and cook for 2 minutes, then transfer to a plate.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the onion in the fat for 6 minutes, scraping up the browned juices, until soft and lightly golden. Meanwhile, heat the 350 g water in the small saucepan used for the olives. Add the garlic to the onion and cook for 1 minute, then add the turmeric and ground coriander and stir for 30 seconds until the mixture turns golden yellow.
5. Return the chicken skin-side up with the juices from the plate. Tuck the potato wedges around and between the pieces, then add the olives, lemon slices and hot water. The liquid should reach halfway up the chicken without wetting the skin. The potatoes will stick out above it; they will steam beneath the lid. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over a low heat for 35 minutes without turning the chicken. Halfway through, turn only the exposed potato wedges. It is ready when the chicken comes away from the bone with a fork, its juices run clear and a knife tip slides into the potatoes without resistance.
6. Uncover, add the juice of the remaining lemon half, increase the heat to medium and reduce for 5–8 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. The golden sauce, thickened by the bones and skin, should be glossy and coat the potatoes. If still thin, mash 2 potato wedges into it with a fork. Taste, then add the remaining 2 g salt a pinch at a time until well seasoned: the twice-blanched olives no longer contribute much salt.
7. Turn off the heat, scatter over the chopped parsley and rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Serve a thigh and drumstick per person, with the potatoes, olives, softened lemon slices and sauce.

On your plate

Cooking tips

Make the whole dish the day before and reheat over a low heat for 10 minutes with 50 g water. It improves overnight and is ideal for Shabbat lunch. Cracked olives contain stones: tell everyone at the table, or use pitted cracked olives. If you prefer pargiyot, use 4 boneless chicken thighs of 110 g, a cut that stays juicy. Sear over a high heat for 3 minutes per side, use 250 g water instead of 350 g and cook for 25 minutes in step 5, turning halfway through. In step 6, mash 2 potato wedges into the sauce to thicken it, as without bones and skin it stays thin. For a Tunis variation, replace the lemon juice with half a chopped preserved lemon, or add 1 tsp harissa with the turmeric. To serve with rice instead of potatoes, omit the potatoes, cook 200 g long-grain rice separately and spoon the chicken and sauce over it; do not reduce the sauce in step 6.

Equipment : 28 cm sauté pan with a lid, small saucepan for blanching the olives and heating water, garlic press

An everyday and Shabbat dish from Tunisian Jewish homes: bone-in, skin-on chicken, cracked green olives, turmeric and lemon, simmered together in one pan.