Martini Chicken
Description
All the flavors of a dirty martini (with a twist) packed into a chicken dish!
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Ingredients
Martini Chicken
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon
- 2 sprigs rosemary + 1 tablespoon minced rosemary
- 4 Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (2 pounds)
- Kosher salt
- 10 ounces white pearl onions, halved root to stem and peeled (or 1 ½ cups chopped white onion)
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- ¾ cup dry vermouth
- 2 tablespoons gin
- 1 small bunch parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 (12-ounce) jar pitted Castelvetrano olives, torn in half (1 heaping cup)
Cocktail Onion Couscous
- ¾ cup dry couscous
- ½ cup chopped cocktail onions + splash brine
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
Instructions
Martini Chicken
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel five 3-inch strips of lemon peel, making sure to avoid white pith; reserve lemon for later. Add lemon peels and 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large pot.
- Heat oil over medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until lemon peels start to curl and edges start to toast, about 3 minutes. Add 2 sprigs rosemary and continue to cook until lemon peels are lightly browned and rosemary is fried, 3–4 minutes more (the peels should look on the verge of burning around the edges and you should get a faint whiff of fruitiness).
- Remove pot from heat and, using tongs, transfer lemon peels and rosemary to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside to cool. Once cool, finely chop fried peels and rosemary; reserve for garnish.
- Season 4 chicken thighs liberally with kosher salt.
- Place pot back over medium-high heat and place chicken, skin side down in oil and cook, until golden brown, 6–8 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until browned on second side, about 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
- Add 10 ounces halved and peeled pearl onions and 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary to drippings in now-empty pot, season with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and toss to coat in drippings. Cook, without moving, until onions start to brown, 3–4 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir in 4 sliced cloves garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until garlic is golden brown and fragrant, about 1 ½ minutes.
- Deglaze pot with ¾ cup dry vermouth, scraping up any browned bits from pan, then return chicken back to pot, cover and cook until chicken reaches 172ºF on an instant-read thermometer, 12–15 minutes, flipping chicken over halfway through.
Cocktail Onion Couscous
- Meanwhile, add ¾ cup couscous to a saucepan over medium heat and cook, shaking occasionally, until starting to toast, about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup water, bring to a boil, then cover, remove from heat, and let cook 10 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed.
- Add ½ cup chopped cocktail onions, a splash of cocktail onion brine, 2 teaspoons olive oil and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt; season to taste with black pepper.
Assembly
- Transfer couscous to a large serving bowl or platter. Arrange chicken thighs over top. Add 2 tablespoons gin to pot with onions; cook until reduced, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, juice lemon.
- Stir 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 bunch chopped parsley, and 1 heaping cup torn olives into onion mixture.
- Spoon onion-olive mixture over and around chicken. Sprinkle chopped fried lemon peel and rosemary over top.
Equipment
Notes
Optional, but for garnish, I like to reserve some fried onions at the end of step 7 for garnish.
Reserve this recipe for a weekend where you have a bit more extra time to prep ingredients. Prepping pearl onions can be a bear, but they are well worth it in this recipe!
Cheap olives are cheap for a reason. Seek out quality olives for the best results.
I do not recommend making this with boneless chicken thighs. The bones keep the meat nice and juicy. If you don't want to deal with the skin, you can remove the skin from the thighs before cooking, but I'd recommend skipping the browning of the chicken and instead increase the covered cooking time.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/4 recipeCalories: 485kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 28gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 2254mgFiber: 8gSugar: 10g
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