With how long winter held onto Minnesota, I thought it would be appropriate to mark and celebrate Spring finally arriving. I am a huge fan of all the Alison Roman recipes that I have tried, and Spring Chicken with Crispy Leeks is no exception.
This recipe calls for baking the chicken, but I can’t wait to try it on the grill. Either way Clay Coyote’s Cazuela would be the perfect pan for grill or oven.
This recipe is taken from Alison Roman’s website.
You will need:
- 1 3-4 lb. chicken
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1 large leek
- 1/2 a bunch of chives chopped finely
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 cup of parsley with stems, chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic finely grated
- 4 anchovy fillets or 2 tablespoons capers finely chopped
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 425° F. or if you’re grilling, get your briquets going. Place your chicken into your Cazuela, pat the skin dry and season with salt and pepper. Alison’s recipe notes that you can stuff your chicken with lemon, herbs, 1/4 an onion or a halved head of garlic at this point. I have only done a halved lemon so far and that worked well.
- Remove the darkest green part of the leek, and quarter the remaining white/light green and rinse them. Then put them into the Cazuela with the chicken, and drizzle everything with olive oil and salt and pepper the leek sections.
- Place your chicken and leeks into the oven, or onto your grill. The recipe calls for baking for 35 minutes, grilling will vary. After checking on it at 35 minutes, you can rotate your pan and baste the chicken if you would like. Then bake for another 20-25 minutes. The leeks should be tender, and the chicken should be golden skinned. The author said she likes her leeks almost burnt.
- While the chicken and leeks are cooking their last 20-25 minutes from step 3, chop the darkest green part of the leek that was removed in step 2. Add the parsley, garlic anchovy fillets or capers and salt and pepper into a bowl. To the bowl add lemon juice, olive oil and a splash of vinegar to make it into a sauce consistency. Serve the chicken with this sauce. It will be bright, acidic and hopefully taste like spring!
