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Chicken with Almond Garlic Sauce

This dish incorporates many of the distinctive elements of Spanish cuisine: almonds, garlic, saffron, and sherry. The addition of hard-cooked eggs to poultry dishes, traditional and still popular, is called pepitoria. Serve with Yellow Rice (page 518) or any other rice or potato dish and whatever vegetable you like.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup blanched almonds
4 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed
1 chicken, 3 to 4 pounds, cut into serving pieces, or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken parts, trimmed of excess fat
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped
Large pinch of saffron threads
1/4 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade (page 160), or water
2 hard-cooked eggs (page 338), optional
1 cup dry sherry

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put the oil in a deep skillet or flameproof casserole, preferably nonstick, over medium-high heat. After a minute or so, when the oil is hot, add the almonds and half the garlic and toast until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a food processor or blender. Let cool.

    Step 2

    Add the chicken to the skillet, skin side down, and brown it well, rotating and turning the pieces as necessary, 10 to 15 minutes. About halfway through the browning, add some salt and pepper along with the onion, allowing the onion to brown with the chicken.

    Step 3

    Meanwhile, add the saffron, stock, remaining garlic cloves, and one of the eggs to the food processor or blender. Process the mixture until a smooth paste is formed. Add this mixture to the skillet with the sherry and stir well.

    Step 4

    Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, turning the chicken pieces occasionally; taste and adjust the seasoning. Meanwhile, slice the remaining egg. Transfer the chicken with the sauce to your serving dish, garnish with the sliced egg, and serve.

The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved. MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
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