Roasted Chicken Thighs with Chili-Citrus Rub

We used to subscribe to quite a few cooking magazines but over the years the list whittled down to just one—Cook’s Illustrated, that is until recently. We are now inundated with cooking mags. As a result of a donation to a children’s charity, our mailbox is now stuffed as a turkey with four monthly magazines—Cooking Light, Bon Appétit, Food and Wine and Everyday Cooking with Rachel Ray. And frankly I’ve been having trouble keeping up with them!

The magazines were piling up and cluttering the hearth in our living room so I decided to spend a couple of hours last weekend going through all of them to determine which recipes I was interested in trying. I decided to try this slightly exotic chili-citrus chicken recipe from Bon Appétit first. It was a great choice; sort of Morocco meets Bobby Flay.

The dish is full of flavor from the combination of citrus (orange juice) chili powder, paprika, cumin, and oregano and the added pungency of a handful of mixed olives. Slowly roasted in the oven, the spice rubbed chicken thighs and potato wedges get crispy and caramelized, making a perfect supper for a chilly fall evening. You will need a heavy duty rimmed jelly roll pan to make this dish, which if you don’t have one are available at Target of Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $15.

Serves 4

1 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes

8 large skinless chicken thighs with bones

2 tbls. fresh lime juice, divided

1/3 cup orange juice

3 tbls. chili powder

1 tbls. paprika

1 tbls. smoked paprika

2 tsp. finely grated orange peel

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. salt

2 tbls. olive oil

1 cup chicken broth

2 tbls. cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 tbls. parsley, coarsely chopped

10-20 pitted olives (preferably mixed colors and sizes)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook potatoes in a large saucepan of lightly salted water until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain.

Place chicken thighs on a rimmed jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and drizzle with 1 tbls. lime juice; set aside. Whisk 1 tbls. lime juice, orange juice, chili powder, both paprikas, grated orange peel, cumin, oregano and ½ tsp. salt in a small bowl and mix well. Rub mixture all over chicken. Arrange potato wedges on the baking sheet, nestled around chicken. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken and potatoes. Bake chicken and potatoes for 20 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.

Turn chicken and potato wedges and spoon juices over. Bake 10 minutes longer. Add chicken broth, 1 tbls. cilantro and parsley, stirring to scrape up any chili bits on bottom of the baking dish (be careful not to break the potatoes). Turn the chicken over and cook another 10 minutes until beginning to brown.

Carefully transfer the chicken and potatoes to a platter, keeping potatoes in tack. Place the baking the sheet over 2 stove-top burners. Boil sauce until reduced to 1 cup, about 3 minutes. Mix in olives. Pour sauce over the chicken and potatoes; top with remaining cilantro and serve.

The recipe calls for 50 olives, which I thought was excessive, but if you really olives, go for it! If you don’t like olives you could theoretically omit them, but I’m not sure the recipe would really work with out them.