My aunt Phoebe’s late husband, Uncle Samy, was a passionate cook who had a knack for turning the simplest ingredients into a meal. This five-ingredient chicken was one of his signature dishes that my cousins and I always looked forward to.
The key to perfecting this dish is to make sure the onions are cooked down and caramelized to a deep golden brown, while being careful not to burn them. Just watch and toss the onions around, managing the heat until they are ready.
Here I serve it over a big salad with blocks of feta, bread, and a bowl of Torshi (page 261). If Uncle Samy saw it this way, he’d teasingly say I ruined it with all the embellishments, and we’d have a big laugh. Every time I make this chicken, I think of him.
My Moroccan friend Mehdi first introduced me to chermoula as a marinade for seafood, but I love it on chicken too. It wraps the meat with the soft distinct flavor of cooked cilantro and the gentle warmth of sweet paprika. This is a great picnicky recipe to double up for a summertime crowd, since chicken thighs (or hindquarters) are very forgiving for the busy home cook. I like to use my wood-burning pizza oven outdoors, but an indoor oven works just fine.
Dates add a wonderful sweetness to this simple dinner in which your protein and veggies are cooked in one pan.
Citrus and oregano make this grilled chicken taste sophisticated. It is inspired by my mom’s traditional pollo en oregano, which is usually fried. (You can find that recipe in our first cookbook Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico.)
Quick and easy traybakes are the way forward. I love the ease of throwing a load of ingredients into a roasting tin and just popping it in the oven, especially when the results are really good and make you think you want to do this again. Happy days.
Mochiko chicken is Hawai‘i’s own style of fried chicken, distinct for its use of mochiko (sweet rice flour) in the batter, which lends a pleasant bouncy chew in addition to that classic fried chicken crunch. Depending on who’s cooking (and what recipe they’re using), local mochiko chicken can draw influence from Japanese karaage, Korean dak kang jung, and even a little from Southern fried chicken.
My nonnie loved a good dinner party and was a pro at effortlessly entertaining a crowd. I can’t say she enjoyed spending much time in the kitchen cooking, but she could conjure up a delicious dinner with minimal effort. One of her tricks was using a mix of store-bought and homemade ingredients, perhaps leaning heavily on the former, but her food always tasted GOOD. Nonnie got this recipe for apricot chicken from her neighbor in Florida. She served it the night we arrived to visit her for Easter one year—she called it “First Night Apricot Chicken.” Apparently, she made it the first night any of her many guests arrived. (When you spend the winters in Florida, you get a lot of visitors.) Well, we devoured it. This recipe is really all about the sauce, and it’s a combo I never would have dreamed up. The three main ingredients sound odd together but are magic. They create a sticky, sweet, and savory chicken that will satisfy all your cravings. I serve mine with roasted broccoli and rice, but Nonnie often did mashed potatoes and asparagus. Take your pick! Either way, you’ll end up with a stress-free dinner that’s full of love.
Big Islanders have a habit of reversing certain words and phrases, especially with food. We call it chicken barbecue; other islands call it barbecue chicken. Same for “ice shave” vs. “shave ice” and “broccoli beef” vs. “beef broccoli.”
Tarragon was made for chicken and mushrooms. Its muted aniseed flavour is somehow both bold and gentle; the sponginess of the mushrooms just soaks up the tarragon and their earthiness marries with it beautifully. The second wonder of this dish is its simplicity – just throw everything into the pan, place the chicken on top and roast.
This kebab is a perfect balance of flavors; juicy aromatic spiced chicken, garlicky, creamy labneh, and crispy fried savory onions, all topped off with little pops of sweet and sour pomegranate.