Turmeric Braised Chicken with Leeks
The original recipe: Turmeric Braised "Chicken with Golden Beets and Leeks" by skinnytaste
Served on top of Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
INGREDIENTS
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken drumsticks
4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 leeks (white and light green parts)
1/2 head of garlic, crushed
small chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp ground turmeric (divided, as you will be adding in at differing times)
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh, the bottled stuff wouldn't taste good in here)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup sauvignon blanc (white wine)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Slice the leeks lengthwise, then into half moons and submerge in a large bowl of cold water. Give this a few rough swirls and let it sit for 5 minutes so the grit falls to the bottom of the water bowl.
3. Use a slotted spoon (or your hands if you're barbaric like me) to transfer the leeks into a large mixing bowl (let as much water drain out as possible).
4. To the large bowl, add the garlic, 1 tsp of the turmeric, grated ginger, lemon juice, and olive oil. Mix with the leeks then empty the bowl into a casserole dish (you want an even layer).
5. To the now empty bowl, mix together the chicken and remaining tsp of turmeric, then place on top of the leeks in the casserole dish.
6. Pour any liquid remaining in the bowl over top of the chicken, and add in the wine. I found that pouring the wine only around the sides of the dish kept the wine flavour relatively isolated, so I would recommend trying to get some in the middle as well without rinsing the turmeric off the chicken.
7. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked through.
My Changes & Notes:
1. Washing the leeks.
The original recipe washes leeks by slicing lengthwise first, then fanning out the layers and washing away the grit. I still sliced them lengthwise, but then I also sliced them into thin half-moons before submerging in cold water and giving them a few rough swirls around. I let them soak for a bit so the grit would sink to the bottom of the bowl while prepping the garlic, lemon juice, and ginger.
2. I completely omitted the beets and beet leaves.
The only beets we like in this household are phat beats, so my intention was to substitute them with large chunks of red or golden potatoes. Then I went down the potato hole and starting craving mashed potatoes instead, so plans changed. Plus, I was banking on a tasty sauce that I could drizzle over top of the mash.
So instead of laying the chicken over top a nice bed of beets and beet leaves, the chicken sat on a thin layer of leeks.
3. The chicken.
My grocery store had variations of chicken that didn't quite match up to that of the original recipe. Here's what I used:
4x skin-on chicken drumsticks, on the bone
4x skinless, boneless chicken thighs
4. Let's talk garlic & ginger (but mostly garlic).
Garlic and ginger are two things I just don't really measure, despite what a recipe says. I go HEAVY on the garlic, so I do recommend that if you don't love garlic as much as I do (vampires wouldn't stand a chance), you're better off following the original recipe for their measurements. For this particular recipe, I used half a head of garlic and just thin sliced the cloves.
For the ginger, I just grabbed a small chunk (probably the equivalent size of 3 dice stuck together) and grated it in using a microplane grater.
5. I used wine (... but will probably use chicken broth next time).
The original recipe provides the option of using white wine or chicken broth. I opted for white wine this time (a sauvignon blanc) just because I had it in my fridge, and I really wanted an excuse to open the bottle so I could have some with dinner.
DISCLAIMER: I hate it when people squeeze lemon over my food to "brighten the flavours." I understand this treatment in theory and am working hard to overcome the hurdle and grow my palate, but it's a long road ahead of me. Having said that, if you love acidity and squeeze lemon all willy nilly over your food, by all means, keep the wine flowing!
6. I thought I ruined my casserole dish - but don't worry!
I was relieved to see the casserole dish in skinnytaste's photo also looked like a fire had been set off in the oven. Thankfully the blackness scrubbed off pretty easily with some elbow grease, though some of the white parts of the casserole dish are tinged yellow from the turmeric.
