Chicken With Grapes, Garlic and Rosemary!

I found this recipe in Food and Wine magazine. It is from Angie Mar who I am not familiar with, so of course, I looked her up. She is a young chef originally from Seattle, WA; now in New York city where she owns and operates two fabulous sounding restaurants. One, The Beatrice Inn, a traditional New York chophouse, with a contemporary twist by Angie, and her latest, Les Trois Chevaux, named for her family and two younger brothers.

Learn more about Chef Mar: http://angie-mar.com

Angie’s recipe calls for cutting a whole chicken into 8 pieces. I rather use all of one cut so the chicken cooks evenly. I love chicken thighs so that is what I chose. This dish is so simple to put together, but elegant enough for a dinner party. I don’t use much fruit in savory dishes and was delighted at how succulent and delicious the grapes became after roasting.

Ingredients:

6 large chicken thighs, bone, skin and fat on

4 tsp. Kosher salt

1/3 cup olive oil, divided

1 medium bunch seedless red grapes

12 large cloves garlic, peeled and slightly smashed (Chef Mar calls for a whole head of garlic.)

12 large sprigs fresh rosemary (She calls for one 1/2 oz. bunch.)

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

I made this dish the day before serving and also made it in two stages. First I pan seared the chicken thighs and the next morning I put the  rest of the dish together. If you are making the dish in one step, proceed with the following directions.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken thighs with salt. Also put the salt under the skin. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in heavy skillet. Add chicken skin side down and cook over high heat undisturbed for about 7 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side for about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan. Reduce to medium-low heat. Add grapes, garlic, and rosemary to the skillet, carefully stirring and scraping up any browned bits. Try not to break the grape clusters apart. Return the chicken to the skillet with browned skin sides up. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and black pepper.

Roast in preheated oven until a meat thermometer reads 155 degrees; about 25 minutes. I like to cook to about 150 degrees as the chicken will continue to cook after you take it out of the oven and who likes dry chicken?

If you prepared the dish the day before or the morning of, just bring to room temp before roasting. The chicken is moist, deeply flavored with garlic and rosemary and slightly sweet with the flavor of grape. Simply delicious!

Even though flavor-wise you do not need it, when I make it again I will add a small sprig of fresh rosemary to garnish the served plate. I know you will love this dish as much as I did!

NEXT TIME I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT 

A COUPLE FUN APPETIZERS, 

INCLUDING A SYRIAN DISH CALLED 

MUHAMMARA, I MADE FOR MY 

FRIDAY AFTERNOON CARD GROUP!

UNTIL THEN…

STAY INSPIRED! KEEP COOKING! 

LOVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!

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