"KEEP IT TOGETHER" CHICKEN & SOUTH OF THE BORDER SIPS
Phew! Anyone else feel like January was as long as 2022?! We made it, y’all. And to celebrate, Anthony’s got a killer skillet chicken dinner that will help you keep it together in the coming months (be it your relationship, work/life balance, or general sanity). To celebrate the end of what some psychopaths call “Dry January,” Elizabeth is waving the flag of La Bandera! It may just be your new favorite party trick…
A CHICKEN DINNER TO HELP YOU “KEEP IT TOGETHER”
AU: Anyone else tired of working so hard to be “your best self?” It’s all too much: staying hydrated, working out enough to make it “a habit,” being present, but taking “time for yourself,” and oh btw, you spend too much time on your phone, and make sure you’re saving 20% of your paycheck for retirement! Being my “best self” seems highly overrated. At this point, I’m just trying to KEEP. IT. TOGETHER.
EK: K-I-T 2023! That’s my mantra this year. Just the thought of all “the things” that we are supposed to do gives me anxiety. I consider K-I-T the ultimate accomplishment!
AU: Same gurl. That’s why I love a skillet dinner. It’s enough active cooking to make you feel virtuous (I am being productive and cooking; I am not spending a ton of money on fast food/takeout; I am feeding my family a wholesome meal), but not so elaborate that it feels like a full-time job when you’ve already worked all day. It’s a meal that can straddle the line between “weeknight dinner” and feel special enough for a “casual dinner party.”
We’ve seen skillet chicken dinners like “Marry Me Chicken” and even a romanticized roast chicken like “Engagement Chicken.” But the dish I’m making is a chicken dinner for the reality of 2023! Something that’s quick and easy, with very little fuss, but results in an incredibly satisfying and enjoyable evening dinner. We can only hope that 2023 ends as gloriously (and with bread cubes toasted in yummy chicken fat!).
AU: “Keep It Together” Chicken uses economically-priced chicken thighs (with the bones and skin) that render their fat, which mixes with some white wine to create a glorious pan sauce. You can use whatever chicken pieces you prefer, but thighs are great because they’re hard to overcook. Like a little insurance policy. The pan sauce is soaked up by some crusty cubes of bread, and spiked with briny and buttery green olives. Medjool dates become jammy in the oven, and offer a welcome sweet note to the savory cast of characters.
I developed this recipe as an homage to three of my favorite chicken dishes: The Silver Palate’s Chicken Marbella, Judy Rodgers’ famous Zuni Cafe Chicken, and my Italian aunt Antonella’s Olive Chicken. No shade to any of these deliciously classic recipes, but they’re a lot of work… and in order for me to keep it together, I’m gonna need to streamline the process a bit…
AU: First things first: I hate browning chicken. I especially hate browning chicken thighs because they splatter everywhere. But, with the cold pan method, splatters are kept to a minimum, and zero skill is required. Simply pat the raw chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and season generously with kosher salt and black pepper. Arrange them skin-side down in a cool, dry 12-inch skillet. Turn the heat to medium-high and let them brown for 10-12 minutes. As the pan comes up to temperature, the chicken fat will slowly render out, causing the skin to crisp. This method also works gloriously with bacon. You’re not cooking the chicken all the way through, here, you’re just getting that skin a head start.
EK: I also hate browning chicken. In fact, I usually use my grill so that I don’t have to clean up the mess, but it does change the flavor a bit.Those chicken thighs are so picture-perfect that I will try the cold-pan method the next time I brown chicken—which is gonna be making this recipe!
AU: Next, you remove the thighs to a plate, keeping that shatteringly crisp chicken skin uncovered and waiting for its next act. Tip in some smashed garlic cloves, pitted (and drained) green olives of any kind, and sturdy herbs like rosemary and thyme. If you’ve got sage or oregano, those work, too. Sauté these ingredients in the chicken fat until the garlic becomes lightly golden and has flavored the dish. Add some torn or cubed bread pieces, along with some pitted-and-halved Medjool dates. Stir, so everything gets coated in that liquid gold. Pour in a little white wine, and return the chicken to the pan. You want to kind of nestle the pieces onto the bread cubes, but also a little IN them, ya know??
Slide the whole skillet into a 425ºF oven, and roast until the chicken is cooked through and the bread has become toasty in parts and soaked with chicken jus.
AU: When the chicken emerges from the oven, you’ll have a big ol’ skillet of goodness… but you need to wait and let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes before serving it up. Sprinkle with parsley and squeeze lemon juice all over. While the chicken is resting, you’ve got time to open a lovely bottle of white wine, and throw together a simple green salad.
Set the warm skillet on the table with a big serving spoon (obvi use a trivet), so your fellow diners can scoop up as much of that chicken, schmaltzy bread, olives, and dates as they want. They’re just trying to keep it together, too.
LA BANDERA: THE BEST COCKTAIL YOU’VE NEVER HAD
EK: The first time that I experienced La Bandera, I was sitting outside a distillery in the tequila region of Mexico. Fitting since the “Bandera” cocktail is inspired by the flag of Mexico. If you know your world flags, you know that the Mexican bandera/flag is green, white and red. The cocktail is served in three separate glasses. One glass is filled with fresh-squeezed lime juice, one is filled with un-aged or blanco tequila, and the “red” glass is filled with Sangrita. (If you don’t know what Sangrita is, more on that later!)
The liquid in the three glasses are meant to be sipped slowly and combined in your mouth. Some people say that the order doesn’t matter, some say that it is lime, tequila and sangrita. Others say it is sangrita, lime and tequila. Drink it and combine it in your mouth how ever you like! If you are skeptical, just try it. It’s a fun interactive drink and very tasty!
AU: I love a good sangrita-based drink. This sounds like a very sophisticated way to enjoy “shots.” :)
EK: That first time, the Bandera was served to me in three square shot glasses and that is still my favorite way to drink it. I love how you can line them up in formation so that they—kinda—look like a flag.
EK: But during my recent trip to Mexico City, I had it served many ways. My top two presentations were a) when the lime and sangrita were served in shot glasses and the tequila was served in a Riedel tequila glass, and b) when all three were served in mini sniffers at Contramar—you can see that the Sangrita at Contramar also had some herbs added to it.
Making the drink is easy! The hardest part is finding the right limes and the right tomato juice for the sangrita.
Mexican limes are smaller and rounder; more akin to the Florida key lime than Persian Limes, the larger grocery-store limes, that we have in the states. I use a mixture of half lemon and half (Persian) lime juice when I make my Bandera “limon” juice.
At its most basic, Sangrita is frequently served in Mexico with shots of Blanco or Reposado tequila. Urban legend has it that people in Jalisco started serving the juice from pico de gallo with tequila—I like to think that it started the same way that “pickleback” shots happened in the US. There was a lot of leftover juice and someone figured out that it made a great sipper/chaser with a shot of tequila. Incidentally, tequila is also made in the state of Jalisco!
Sangrita is a combination of tomato and orange juice, and every version that I had in Mexico City was different. I’ve created my own recipe by mashing up the things that I liked best.
The texture of the tomato juice is key to this. If you are like me, you do not like a thick, grainy tomato juice. This is a big turn off for me in Sangrita and my Bloodies as well.
AU: AMEN, Sis! Don’t give me a tomato smoothie when I ordered a Bloody Mary! What do you think? Let’s do an informal poll…
EK: As someone who has tasted homemade tomato juice many times, I don’t understand where the thick saucy texture in store-bought tomato juice comes from. Fresh tomato juice is thin and silky. And to me that makes the best Sangrita. Because I don’t have access to fresh tomato juice, I decided to make the next best thing…
EK: By straining a can of crushed tomatoes, you are left with a thin silky and concentrated—read: full of flavor—tomato juice, almost like a highly flavored tomato water. This is the perfect base for homemade Sangrita.
Next, you need fresh-squeezed orange juice. Again, the texture is very important here. Fresh squeezed is also a lot less acidic and you are going to add your “limon” juice to the mixture to balance the acid and make it tangy. After that, you can customize your “juice” however you like it. I use Worcestershire sauce and jalapeño hot sauce. You could add chopped cilantro and minced onion, course-ground pepper, and coriander if you like. It all depends if you want a clear liquid or a liquid with some “chew” to it!
