Saturday, January 10, 2009

Ferran Adria's Rotisserie Chicken

I love how Ferran Adria plays with his ingredients, whether it be using liquid nitrogen to create a melt-in-your mouth flavored foam (more like, it evaporates and teasingly leaves the flavor of a vegetable or fruit like lemon on your tongue) or using potato chips in place of sauteed potatoes in his tortilla espanyola. In this recipe, he uses a store bought rotisserie chicken and turns it into something complex and wonderful.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup pitted dried sour cherries
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 strip orange zest (it should be roughly the diameter of the orange), bitter white stuff removed
1 strip lemon zest (it should be roughly the diameter of the orange), bitter white stuff removed
1/2 cup tawny port
1 small cinnamon stick
2/3 cup chicken stock
1 store-bought rotisserie chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds, chopped into 8 pieces, any juices reserved

Preheat the oven to 425.

Heat the olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat. Add fruit, zest and pine nuts to saute pan Stir while cooking until fruit are browned in spots and pine nuts turn golden, about 3-5 minutes. Add cinnamon stick and port and cook about 5 minutes, or until syrupy. Add chicken stock and reserved chicken juices. Turn heat to high and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place chicken pieces in baking dish that holds them snugly. Pour sauce over chicken, scraping saute pan to get any stuck fruit bits. Turn chicken in sauce until it is coated. Bake chicken 10-15 minutes until chicken is hot and sauce is further reduced. Serve immediately.

This recipe reminds me of Moroccan chicken tagine, only tagine may require hours of cooking and prep time, and this recipe can be prepared in less than 1 hour. Even better, your guests will never know the difference between this easy meal and the more intense tagine.

5 comments:

  1. That sounds wicked good. I've never had tagine, but now I definitely want to. Heh.

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  2. excellent recipe, I love Marrakesh food is just divine, and is so versatile...I just love coming here every time. thx for sharing!!!

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  3. Sounds wonderful! I like that better than just a plain piece of chicken...

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  4. This sounds great. I love Adria so this is definitely on my to do list. If you haven't read "A Day at El Bulli" you should. I have a few molecular gastronomy dishes on my website if your interested in playing with your food.

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  5. Hello Caitlin, I visit your blog frecuently and you always surprise me with good recipies. I am ready to prepair tagine for today meal.
    Take good care of Carlos your dominican boyfriend.

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