This is a super-easy, one pan meal adapted from Tyler Florence's cookbook, "Stirring the Pot". The original recipe called for the use of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. Forgive me while I go on a tiny rant.
First, a confession. White meat confuses me. Why would anyone eat the white meat, when the dark meat has twice the flavor for half the price????? I am going to tell you a secret of the culinary world: We all hate white meat chicken. Ask any chef, butcher, or food writer, and you will find a serious disrespect for the humble chicken breast.
I know what you are thinking, the white meat is "leaner", therefore healthier. In actuality, the difference is negligible: according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 100 g of white meat has 0.56 g of saturated fat and 114 calories; while the same amount of dark meat has 1 g and 119 calories.
You are much better off spending your poultry money on organic, free-range dark chicken meat, than the nasty, factory farmed breasts you find in most supermarkets. Even when I roast a whole chicken at home, the dark meat goes first. We are always left with a plate of white meat, that only gets eaten if it is converted into something tastier, like chicken salad, chicken quesadillas or chicken chili.
So, back to the recipe. I substituted whole chicken legs (they are the legs, with the thigh still attached), sometimes known as the leg quarter. The only adaptation I make when using dark meat in place of white meat in a recipe is to increase the cooking time. There is no tried and true rule about how much to increase the cooking time by, but I usually start with an increase in time of 25%. In addition, I always use my meat thermometer to check that the dark meat has reached 170-175 F.
Chicken With Olives,Oranges and New Potatoes
4 whole chicken legs (thigh still attached) - skin on OR 2 large chicken breasts, split in half down the middle – skin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup medium black olives, pitted
1/2 orange, sliced into round circles
4 large new potatoes, skin-on, ¼-inch thick-sliced
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Set a large oven-proof pan over medium heat and add a 3-tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Season chicken all-over with plenty of salt and pepper then add to the pan skin-side down.
Cook for 7-8 minutes until the skin is nice and golden then turn chicken over and add potatoes, orange slices and olives evenly over and around the pan. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and shake the pan around a little so everything get’s coated nicely with the oil and chicken juices – this also helps settle everything into place. Cook for about 5 minutes on the stove-top until you get a little color on the potatoes.
Season once more with salt and pepper then pop the whole pan in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the internal temperature has reached 170 F using an instant read thermometer.
Garnish with fresh parsley stems.
