Six O’Clock Resolution: Straightforward-going Harissa hen in a cast-iron pan

8 months ago 2 min read

When Christine Flynn, Niagara area chef and cooking instructor, wrote her easy-going cookbook A Beneficiant Meal: Trendy Recipes for Dinner (Penguin Canada, $40), she shared her foremost suggestions for turning out quick household meals: greater than 100 recipes from around the globe, plus a well-stocked pantry, fridge and freezer.

Available in her Beamsville, Ont., kitchen are such specialties as tahini, hen inventory, Aleppo pepper, Kosher dills, and Brillat-Savarin cheese, to call some favourites. A number of trusty items of kitchen gear get common use. This fast hen dinner is straightforward to make with a high-speed blender and a cast-iron frying pan. She features a recipe for her Harissa sauce, well-liked in Moroccan and Tunisian delicacies. Or you possibly can trim preparation time through the use of a dependable ready-made model from a well-stocked grocery store.

Harissa hen

Serves 4 to six

Harissa sauce:

4 pink bell peppers, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pink or inexperienced lengthy chili, or a jalapeño pepper, seeded, chopped

1 cup (250 mL) hen inventory

Hen:

4 bone-in hen legs or thighs

Salt

Coarsely floor pepper

1 tablespoon (15 mL) candy paprika

2 tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil or ghee

¼ cup (60 mL) Harissa*

*The cookbook features a recipe for this condiment made with chilis, spices, garlic and oil. Chili sauce could also be substituted.

Harissa sauce: Place peppers, garlic, chili and a bit of the hen inventory in a high-speed blender and pulse to mix.

With the machine operating at excessive pace, pour within the remaining hen inventory and mix simply till it’s of sauce consistency.

Hen: Preheat oven to 350 levels F (180 C). Pat hen dry and season throughout with salt, pepper and paprika.

In a big cast-iron frying pan or Dutch oven over medium-high warmth, warmth olive oil till shimmering and sear hen, pores and skin facet down, for 4 to five minutes, till pores and skin is crispy and golden. Flip hen and brown different facet for 3 minutes. Switch hen to a plate.

With the pan on medium warmth, pour off all however 2 tablespoons (30 mL) of the pan drippings and add Harissa sauce to the pan. Prepare dinner for two to three minutes till sauce begins to thicken.

Return hen, pores and skin facet up, to the pan and switch pan to the preheated oven. Bake, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes till hen is cooked via (inside temperature of 165 levels F/74 C).

Serve hen with sauce spooned over.

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