I fell in love with the idea of this meal over a week ago and set my heart on making it. Then a week of intense summer heat and humidity happened and there was simply no way in hell I was going to let my oven run at 350F for an hour and a flipping half.
Yet, still I craved the fall-apart braised chicken, the creamy beans, the lemony brightness, and another excuse to use that forest green mint pesto*.
Beans are soaked overnight, then drained and set aside while you cook up some onion and garlic in olive oil. The beans mix in along with some lemon peel and juice.
Chicken thighs are seasoned and loaded on top of the beans with fresh thyme. The whole pot is brought to a simmer (breathe it in) in water before you pop it in the oven to do its thing.
After an hour and a half of cooking, when the beans are creamy and tender beyond belief, you pull it out and add more lemon before removing the chicken.
Once shredded, the chicken is returned to the pot and a lovely dollop of mint pesto is added.
*I had every intention of using the mint pesto I made last week but sadly when I retrieved it from the fridge, it had gone bad. Super sad. Luckily, this dish stands up perfectly well on its own, but if you can then surely make the pesto. I left it in the recipe knowing how much creaminess , texture, and flavour it could potentially add. This makes a healthy, hearty Summer supper full of wow. Yep, that’s a real thing.
Lemon Braised Chicken + Beans with Mint Pesto
adapted from The Kitchn
serves 6 to 8
- 1 pound dried small white beans, such as flageolet
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 2 lemons
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Several tablespoons of mint pesto, to serve
- Place the dried beans in a large bowl and cover them with water. Soak for 24 hours, or at least overnight — topping up the water as the beans soak it up. Drain the beans and set aside.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. In a 4-quart (or larger) Dutch oven or heavy ovenproof pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are tender and the onion is nearly translucent. Add the drained beans and stir to coat the beans with the garlic, onion, and oil. Turn off the heat.
- Take a sharp vegetable peeler and carefully peel one of the lemons. Peel it in wide strips, taking care that you remove only the top yellow layer of peel — you do not want any of the bitter white pith. Add all of this shaved lemon peel to the beans and stir. Juice the lemon and add the juice to the beans. (Reserve the second lemon for later.)
- Pat the chicken dry, and lightly salt and pepper it. Lay it on top of the beans in the Dutch oven. Add water until it covers the beans and comes up to just below the chicken. Lay the thyme sprigs on top. Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a simmer. Cover the pot and put it in the oven.
- Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until the beans are very tender and creamy.
- Remove the lid from the pot, and take out the chicken and put it to the side on a plate. Remove the thyme stalks. Zest and juice the second lemon, and stir the zest and juice into the beans. Shred or chop the chicken and place it back on top of the beans. Top with the mint pesto (recipe here) and serve.
- To serve, scoop up a spoon of beans, and top with chicken. Make sure each serving has a dollop of pesto as well. Serve with a green salad, and good bread to soak up the sauce.
I hope somewhere along the lines of you reading this blog I have conveyed my fierce love of curry. If not, then I’ve been remiss and I’d like to address the situation right now. Curry to British people is like Mexican food to Americans. A foreign cuisine that feels so entrenched in your own country’s national eating habits that it’s as normal and traditional a thing to eat as say, burgers for you guys, or bangers and mash for us.
Curry feels British. Quite clearly though, it is not. You won’t find many traditional British recipes parading around with a list of spices as long as you’ll see below. Curry became really popular in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards as a result of British colonial rule and mass immigration to Britain from South Asia.
I actually didn’t discover chana masala until moving to the States and beginning to cook more myself. Back in the day at curry houses, I would rarely even glance at vegetarian dishes, thinking in tunnel vision, “I’m not a vegetarian, so…”. Little did I know that many of the best dishes live over there in vegetarian land. Chana Masala is just one of them and I’m so happy to share it with you because if you love curry then I think you’ll adore this.
We’ve been making this recipe for a year or two and have adapted it to suit our slightly milder tastes. I always thought of myself as a spice lover but the original of this recipe had me sweating at levels I wasn’t quite comfortable with. Hence I’ve toned it down but don’t be fooled: it still packs a punch. If you prefer it really spicy then double the amount of green chili pepper and cayenne pepper.
Chana Masala {Chickpea Curry}
adapted from Madhur Jaffrey via Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 medium onions, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 fresh, hot green chili pepper, minced
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small
- 2/3 cup water
- 4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 lemon (juiced)
Directions
- Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spices for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and any accumulated juices, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan.
- Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.
- Serve with fluffy basmati rice or naan bread (or both).
Yesterday, the forecast was for snow in Minneapolis. As I’m typing this we’ve dodged that particular bullet but I can’t tell you how disheartening it is to hear such rumours after the couple of weeks of sunshine we had earlier this month. The winter coat had been left swinging lonely and dark on its hook, winter snow boots were replaced with delicate flats, and I started walking down to the lake on my lunch breaks with a sandwich in my hand. The change in weather makes me want to scream at the sky, “It’s almost bloody May!”
What I’m trying to do instead is not let it get to me (harder than you’d think) and reminding myself that it will be here soon. Spring will arrive.
If you’re trying to channel spring – or if it’s long since arrived in your neck of the woods – here is one of my favourite new spring recipes to enjoy as the sun peeks its head out from behind the clouds.
This dish is both healthy and filling. It’s full of zing (hello lemon zest and nutmeg) and a satisfying crunch. Perfect as a side dish or a main. We’ve had it several times now, and it just keeps getting better as I tweak it.
You could use all sorts of greens: collard, chard, spinach, arugula {rocket}, kale. Anything sturdy and dark green. Ooh and don’t skimp on the lemon, nutmeg, and other seasonings – they’re what make this dish so poppy and fresh!
Pan-Fried White Beans with Greens
adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Ingredients
- 1/2 bunch collard greens or kale, stems removed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 – 3 big handfuls of cooked cannelini white beans (I highly recommend using dried beans here – the taste is dramatically better)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- scant 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- zest of one small/medium lemon (if it’s larger, you’ll probably want to use less as the flavour is quite prevalent and can dominate)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Finely chop the collard greens, wash it, and shake off as much water as you can. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in the widest skillet you own. Add the beans in a single layer. Stir to coat the beans, then let them sit long enough to brown on one side, about 3 or 4 minutes, before turning to brown the other side, also about 3 or 4 minutes. The beans should be golden and a bit crunchy on the outside.
- Add the collard greens and salt to the pan and cook for less than a minute, just long enough for the greens to lose a bit of their structure. Stir in the walnuts and garlic, wait 10 seconds, then stir in the nutmeg. Wait ten seconds and stir in the lemon juice and zest. Remove from heat, check seasoning – add salt and pepper – and serve.
Serves 2 – 4.
