Roast chicken over hot-headed chickpeas
Harissa gets two minutes in a pan and a whole new attitude.
At a Glance
Story
Harissa is the Tunisian chile paste, and jarred versions arrive a little flat from the journey. Two minutes in a pan with sautéed onion and garlic wakes it right up, and mashing half the chickpeas into the sauce gives it body while the other half stay whole for texture. A condiment becomes a dish.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lb bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
- 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- kosher salt and pepper
- ½ cup onionfinely chopped
- 1 tsp garlicminced
- 2 tbsp harissa pastemore to taste
- 1 tbsp coriander seedscrushed (or 1½ tsp ground coriander)
- 1 × 15.5 oz can chickpeasrinsed and drained
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juicefrom about ½ a lemon
- ¼ cup parsleycoarsely chopped
Method
High heat, crisp skin and a sauce with opinions. The chickpeas do double duty, half mashed into the sauce and half left whole to be interesting.
- Heat the oven to 450 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the chicken with 2 tablespoons of the oil, season well with salt and pepper and arrange skin side up. Roast until golden and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes depending on size. Rest 10 minutes, then carve the breast off the bone and slice.
- While the chicken rests, warm 2 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan over medium. Soften the onion and garlic, about 3 minutes. Stir in the harissa and coriander and cook until it smells serious and turns dark red, about 2 minutes.
- Add half the chickpeas and mash them lightly into the sauce. Stir in the rest along with the lemon juice, parsley, the last 2 tablespoons of oil and ¼ cup of water. Season to taste.
Spoon the sauce generously over the sliced chicken. Couscous or orzo underneath would not be a mistake. No mortar and pestle for the coriander? The bottom of a heavy pot crushes seeds just as well and enjoys it more.
More to cook
Crisp rice cakes and sausage in a ketchup glaze
Rice cakes fried until they crackle, then lacquered in ketchup and miso with the sausage.
A full course of Italian penicillin
Chicken soup's glamorous Italian cousin, with a spicy crumb and a cold lemon dollop.
Harissa shrimp broiled over a tray of greens
The greens go in first with half a cup of water, and the shrimp only arrive once the broiler takes over.
Salt and pepper dumplings straight from the freezer
Frozen potstickers and green beans, tossed at the last second in salt, sugar and more black pepper than seems wise.
Garlic noodles the way San Francisco does them
Two heads of garlic, plenty of butter and three bottles from the cupboard, done in the time it takes to boil the pasta.
Shrimp over creamed corn, and rather a lot of feta
Corn simmered soft in cream and butter, then blitzed until chunky and used the way you would use grits.
Creamy lemon spaghetti with a Sichuan pepper buzz
Crème fraîche, miso and lemon make the sauce, and toasted Sichuan peppercorns go in twice so your lips hum.
Chicken sausage and lemon, baked as a lasagna
A lasagna that went on holiday and came back with a tan and a lemon habit.
Pumpkin pasta with sausage and crisp sage
Tinned pumpkin, Gruyère and a sheet pan to crisp the lot.
Sausage lasagna spread thin for the crust
Lasagna with no layers, baked flat on a sheet pan, and an insult to nonnas everywhere.
Vodka rigatoni, baked till the tops crackle
Vodka sauce given a sheet pan, a jar of Calabrian chilis and a honey drizzle it did nothing to deserve.
Charred corn and halloumi panzanella with chili crisp
One bowl, mostly made in the morning, so the cook can sit down with the guests.
Chicken and zucchini meatballs under a feta sauce
Half the meatball is grated zucchini, which is the only reason a chicken meatball has any business being this juicy.
Dan dan noodles, served cold on purpose
The sesame and chile sauce is bossy enough to work as a dressing, so the noodles never need to be hot.
Zucchini parmesan, roasted not fried
All the comfort of the fried original, a fraction of the oil, and no pan spitting at you.