Garlicky Chicken With Lemon-Anchovy Sauce
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1¼pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (4 to 5 thighs)
- 1teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 6garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 5anchovy fillets
- 2tablespoons drained capers, patted dry
- 1large pinch chile flakes
- 1lemon, halved
- Fresh chopped parsley, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
340 calories; 21 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 12 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 34 grams protein; 491 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and let rest while you prepare the anchovy-garlic oil. Mince one of the garlic cloves and set it aside for later. In a large, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the 5 smashed whole garlic cloves, the anchovies, capers and chile. Let cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up the anchovies, until the garlic browns around the edges and the anchovies dissolve, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the chicken thighs and cook until nicely browned on one side, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip the thighs, place the pan in the oven and cook another 5 to 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Step 3
When chicken is done, transfer thighs to a plate (be careful, as the pan handle will be hot). Place skillet back on the heat and add minced garlic and the juice of one lemon half. Cook for about 30 seconds, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Return chicken to the pan and cook it in the sauce for another 15 to 30 seconds.
- Step 4
Transfer everything to a serving platter. Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the chicken and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve.
Private Notes
Comments
For those who, like me, use anchovy paste from the tube rather than whole fillet anchovies, note that according to most sources one anchovy fillet is the equivalent of 1/2 teaspoon of anchovy paste.
Brown the thighs first, remove from pan. THEN make the sauce. Cook the anchovies and garlic together on a low heat to control the garlic not getting over cooked. Then add capers as suggested by another reader. I add at least a half to 3/4 c white wine at the end when thighs have been removed from the sauce along with more lemon. simmer to reduce a bit and thicken. the more sauce the merrier! finally a T of butter.
I make this all the time, too, and I've shared the recipe with lots of people. I use bone-in, skin-on thighs (because chicken skin is the best part of a chicken), and I brown the chicken a bit first before adding the anchovies, garlic, etc. so nothing burns. Perfect weeknight meal.
To make this easy I hand blended everything in the recipe in a bowl w plus zest of 1/2 lemon plus lemon juice and then tossed the room temperature chicken thighs in this and baked (w extra sauce from bowl)for 1 hour 15 minutes at 350 degrees w a thin sliced lemon on top. One dish, one bowl, it was excellent and sauce was lovely from this effort.
Definitely a keeper. Made some tweaks. I stick a parsley stem in the oil for added seasoning and discard when it's time to put in the chicken. I pull the garlic cloves from the oil so they do not burn. I use anchovy paste instead of fillets. To deglaze the pan, in addition to the lemon juice, I use white wine or whatever I have on hand such as dry vermouth or marsala wine.
Adding chopped garlic to a pan and cooking it at medium high for 5 minutes, then adding the chicken and browning for a total of 17 minutes will surely burn the garlic. We've seen this in other recipes in the NYT, and how uou can do this without burning the garlic is beyond me.