Food Gold is back with another quick draw 20 minute dinner recipe. I whipped up this chicken dish on Sunday night using a few things I had in the pantry and some store bought chicken legs I needed to do something with. The sauce is really open to interpretation, as it’s really just an example of how to combine acidic (vinegar, lemon juice, tomatoes) with salty (olives) and possibly sweet (roasted tomatoes, mmm.) Get creative and mess around until you get the flavor profile you want. And be sure to go through the effort to broil the chicken before serving. That extra crispy skin makes all the difference! Knowledge after the jump.

20 minute Roasted Chicken with Tomato/Olive/Lemon Sauce
(serves two, plus leftovers)

Ingredients:

– 1/2 lb organic bone in, skin on chicken legs (thigh + drumstick)

– 1/3 cup pitted olives, roughly chopped

– 1/3 cup roasted or regular tomatoes

– splash or three of red wine vinegar to taste

– squeeze or three of fresh lemon juice to taste

– 1 or 2 teaspoons of fresh parsley, finely chopped

– drizzle of super nice, fruity olive oil

– salt pepper to taste, duh

Helpful equipment:

– Meat Thermometer

– Large Oven Proof Skillet

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. If roasting tomatoes yourself, chop into bit sized pieces, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt and roast for approx 40 minutes.

2. Prep your chicken for roasting. Dry it VERY well using paper towels then season BOTH SIDES with salt and pepper.

3. Heat up a large skillet over medium/high heat then add your oil. The oil will move in fluid waves across the pan once it is hot enough.

4. Add your chicken to the pan skin-side down and cook for approx 6 minutes or until skin is golden brown and crispy-ish. Don’t move the chicken as it cooks. Once first side is done, cook other side for approx 4 minutes.

5.  Once both sides are golden brown, throw the entire skillet into the oven and roast until internal temperature of chicken leg is 165 degrees.

6. Once cooked, let chicken rest for as long as it takes you make your sauce and then preheat your broiler.

7. Mix chopped tomatoes, chopped olives, red wine vinegar, lemon juice together. Taste often and adjust as needed.

8. Throw chicken into SCREAMING HOT broiler for approx 90 seconds to get the skin extra crispy. Be sure not to burn it, dude.

9. Top chicken with olive/tomato mixture and serve immediately.

Fork The World,

Elliot