Braised Datil Chicken with Olives + Oranges

braised datil chicken with olives + oranges { shut up and eat }

This was one of those recipes that sneaks up and just kinda happens. I had a friend over, it was around Christmas, late afternoon, and we were testing my pomegranate cocktail. I was like, could you pleasseee do me this favor and she was like FINE, I’ll come over. Late afternoon quickly gave way to dinner time and we needed sustenance. I love a good chicken and olives recipe. Have we talked about this before? One of my favorites is from the cookbook Laura in the Kitchen. It’s one of those recipes you can just throw together and it tastes super comforting and delicious. So I threw everything in the pot, with some potatoes and gave it a generous sprinkle with some never-been-opened Datil Spice that was sitting on my counter. While it was in the oven cooking away, we were drinking and talking and kept saying, this smells delicious. When it came out of the oven we devoured it like a pack of wolves. Just the two of us. And ordered the kids pizza.

I used up all the Datil spice within the next week. I then completely abused my food blogger privileges and started commenting on Del Viejo’s (the makers of Datil Spice) photos in a ‘HEY, notice me!!’ hands-waving-in-the-air kinda way. They finally did and asked if I wanted some more Datil Spice and I said, who me? I mean, I guess…if you insist… 

I made this many times over since, tweaking and adding to it and taking copious notes. First, because it was positively delicious. Second, because I wanted to get it right for you. This is the easiest dinner on the planet. It’s a ready-in-under-an-hour dinner, perfect for a busy mid-week evening and delicious enough for guests. You don’t have to get the Del Viejo Datil Spice to make this (and I give you substitutions below), but I highly recommend that you do. I don’t normally go crazy or over-hype a product (except King Arthur Flour and Cup4Cup…because they’re both the bomb diggity)…but this stuff is the goods.

It was a moody, rainy day when I photographed this…which I kind of like the effect it had on the photos. But you’ll notice as you go farther down the page, they get darker and darker. Stella was my hand model and she was swarming the food like a seagull, until the very last photo when she was legs crossed eating it straight off the platter. I knew I had to get a photo and that this was officially a Shut Up & Eat recipe. I can’t imagine anyone not loving it that much.

Let’s get our braise on people.

braised datil chicken with olives + oranges

Makes 4 Generous Servings

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 pounds chicken thighs*
• 1 tablespoon Datil pepper** (I’m rather generous with this…let your conscience be your guide)
• ½ yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock
• 1 ½ pound red potatoes, scrubbed, skin on and quartered
• 1/2 cup green olives (pitted or unpitted, I used Picholine)
• 1 orange, half cut in thin slices, the other half juiced over the chicken
• Chopped parsley to garnish
• French bread to sop up the YUMMY juices

*I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. If you use bone-in thighs, you’ll need to add additional cook time. Additionally, you can use chicken breasts if you prefer and similarly, may need to adjust the cook time depending on the thickness of the breasts.

**You can replace the 1 tablespoon of Datil Spice with your favorite spice blend or add the following to the dish: 1 additional tablespoon of fresh-squeezed orange juice, 1 tablespoon orange zest, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon of cayenne, ½ teaspoon paprika and 1/2 teaspoon each sea salt and pepper.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Make sure you have a rack in the middle of the oven.
2. Grab two large plates: one for your raw chicken (in which to season it on) and another to rest the chicken after you’ve browned it.
3. Place the chicken on one of the plates and coat with 1 tablespoon Datil spice.
4. Heat either a large cast-iron pot (I used a 5.5 QT cocotte) or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once it’s shimmering, swirl it around so that it coats the surface.
5. Place the chicken in the pot, without crowding it. You may need to brown the chicken in batches depending on the size of your pot. Leave the chicken, undisturbed, for 2-3 minutes or until a nice brown crust forms. Flip and repeat on the other side. Remove from the pan and place on the other clean plate. Repeat until all thighs are browned, but not cooked through.
6. Turn the heat down to medium, add the onions and sauté for 3-5 minutes or until they are soft.
7. Add the smashed garlic cloves to the pan and stir around the pan for 1 minute.
8. Add the chicken stock to the pan. Turn the heat to high, get the juices boiling, and scrape the brown bits off of the bottom of the pan. Turn off the heat.
9. Add the chicken and the accumulated juices back to the pan. Nestle the oranges between and on top of the chicken thighs. Place the cut potatoes on top of the oranges. It’s important that you add the ingredients in this order. You want the chicken cooking in the broth, as it will stay super moist and you don’t want the potatoes cooking in the broth because they will start to break down.
10. Squeeze the orange over the tops of the potatoes and place the green olives around the dish.
11. If you’re feeling it, give one last, light sprinkle of Datil spice (I did).
12. Bake in the oven, with the lid off, for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
13. Take the chicken, olives, garlic, orange slices and all of the onions out of the pan (do your best with the onions, they’re tricky to get out) and place on a serving dish. Drain the liquid from the pot into a separate bowl (I put it into a gravy boat). Try to get most of the liquid out of the pot (without spilling the potatoes out). Loosely cover the chicken with foil to keep warm.
14. Increase the oven temp to 450 degrees F.
15. With only the potatoes left in the pot, put it back in the oven and roast for an additional 15 minutes or until they start to crisp up a bit. They won’t get roasted-potatoes crispy, but just a little bit of color and crust is what you’re looking for. You can also turn the broiler on for an additional 5 minutes to brown them a little more. Watch them so that they don’t burn if you do use the broiler.
16. I like to eat this in a bowl, with a hunk of crusty bread on the bottom, chicken and potatoes and all that good stuff on top and then drizzled with the juices. YUM. This juice/sauce, whatever you want to call it, is beyond words. So simple. So delicious.

{ on my mind }

• Would you all go create your own Bitmoji right now? And start sending them to me? They slay me. Bitmoji is an app that lets you create your own, unique emoji…in your likeness. It’s. Amazing.
• Do you guys know the Comma Queen? Oh my…I love her. Check out this one on serial commas. She speaks to me. Sometimes the comma is there, sometimes it’s not. Everything explained.
• This is not technically a sponsored post…they did send me the product, but I get lots of product sent to me and ain’t nobody gets this kinda love from me. I got my first taste of Del Viejo in my Hatchery box…I’m going to do a quick plug for them because I truly think those monthly boxes are magic.
• There’s another blogger that uses Datil Pepper in lots of recipes…you should really check out her Instagram and food blog. Beautiful photos, creative recipes, good vibes.
• Game Day Eats: Chinese Bun Appetizers (like crack), and Harissa + Steak Chili and Chorizo and Beer Chili.
• Recently on DisplacedHousewife: Petite Chinese Buns, Blood Orange Scones, Fudgy Brownies with Caramelized Pecan Brittle, Smoked Salt Double Chocolate Rye Cookies, Dirty Baked Potato Soup, and Honey Sriracha Shrimp Detox Salad.
• The arugula in these photos is growing wild all over my yard…I’m in heaven. I let my plants go to seed last year and then didn’t quite close the loop on seed collecting and so they flew all over the yard. It’s perfect. Even better, my chickens aren’t interested in it. It was a nice addition to the dinner…fresh, no dressing, perfect as is.
• Happy Thursday!! I hope it’s aces!! xoxo

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