Saffron Chicken with Fennel & Barberries & Carrot Pilaf


There are days when I prefer cooking things in large batches so I can have a couple days off from cooking afterwards. This frees up my time to pursue other hobbies, like hiking or working out. I'm very loosely calling working out a hobby. It's more of a thing I feel I need to do to stay healthy but calling it a hobby makes it sound cooler (and maybe will trick my brain into liking it, ha!). Anyway, I got very off topic there. This stew fits the bill for a large batch cooking. It makes for a nice large pot of chicken with lots of sauce that can be mopped up with bread or poured over rice alongside a nice cucumber salad. The chicken also has lots of vegetables in the form of onions and fennel, so you get a nice dose of healthy veggies in as well. And if you serve it with a vegetable rice like I did, double bonus points to you! ;)


The carrot rice is a nice blank-ish canvas that can be eaten with more flavorful things. Although there's aleppo pepper in the rice, it's more of a background note than anything else. I like that I was able to get in more veggies in my meal this way :)


Recipe adapted from Persiana, Sabrina Ghayour
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 tbsp sunflower oil
12 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 lbs)
2 large yellow onions, cut into sixths and sliced
2 huge pinches saffron
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 tsp salt
juice from 2 oranges (1 cup)
2 cups water
3 tbsp honey
1/2 cup barberries

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Heat oil on medium high heat in a large and wide oven safe pan (with lid). Brown chicken in batches for 7-8 minutes flipping in between till the thighs have nice color on them. Set them aside on a plate. Saute the onion in the same pan for 5-8 minutes till they take on color and add saffron, cumin, cinnamon & salt. Saute for 30 seconds more. Add the orange juice, water, honey and lay the chicken thighs (with any juices) on top and bring to a boil. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Remove pan from oven and carefully stir in barberries so they are all immersed and not on top of chicken thighs. But make sure the nice browned skin on the chicken is facing up still. Bake for an additional 30 minutes. Serve with rice.


Recipe adapted from Zahav, Michael Solomonov & Steven Cook
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb jasmine rice soaked in water for half an hour
4 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 lb carrots coarsely grated
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp aleppo pepper
2 cup carrot juice
1/4 cup water

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Wash & drain the jasmine rice well and set aside. Heat olive oil on medium heat in a wide saucepan and saute onions and carrots for 8 minutes till soft. Add garlic and sauce for another minute or two. Add salt and aleppo pepper and mix it in. Add the drained rice and sauté for 3 minutes till well toasted. Add the carrot juice and water and mix it thoroughly and bring to a boil on high. It will reach boiling point very quickly. Immediately close the pan with a lid and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Once baked, remove to a cool spot and let remain (with lid on still) for at least 20 minutes. But ideally an hour is even better. Fluff with a fork and serve.

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