Pollo con Aceitunas a la Sevillana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy sauté pan or shallow casserole with lid, 28 to 30cm
• •Mortar and pestle or small food processor
• •Slotted spoon
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the chicken

   Pat the chicken very dry, especially around the skin. Season it all over with 6g of the salt and the black pepper, then leave it for 15 minutes while you prepare the onion and majado ingredients. Taste one olive now. If it is sharply salty rather than pleasantly briny, rinse the olives briefly under cold water and drain them well.

2. 2

   Fry the majado

   Warm the olive oil in a wide heavy pan over medium-low heat. Add the whole garlic clove and almonds and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until the garlic is pale gold and the almonds smell toasted. Add the bread cubes and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, turning them until golden on every side. Lift the garlic, almonds, and bread onto a plate with a slotted spoon. Keep them pale gold rather than brown; dark almonds will spoil the sauce.

3. 3

   Brown the chicken

   Raise the heat to medium-high. Lay in half the chicken, skin side down, without crowding the pan. Brown it undisturbed for 5 to 6 minutes, until the skin is deep gold and releases easily, then turn and cook the second side for 2 minutes. Transfer it to a plate and repeat with the remaining pieces. Browning in two batches keeps the pan hot enough to color the chicken properly.

4. 4

   Cook the sofrito

   Lower the heat and leave about 45ml of fat in the pan, spooning away any excess. Add the diced onion and cook gently for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring often, until dark gold, soft, and jammy, with no pale raw pieces left. Add the three sliced garlic cloves and cook for 2 minutes more, just until fragrant.

5. 5

   Begin the braise

   Pour in the white wine and scrape the browned residue from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Let the wine bubble for 3 to 4 minutes, until reduced by roughly half and its raw alcoholic smell has gone. Add the water and bay leaf, then return the chicken and every drop of its juices to the pan. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and cook over low heat for 25 minutes.

6. 6

   Crush the majado

   While the chicken braises, put the fried almonds, bread, and whole garlic clove in a mortar with 8g of the parsley. Pound until finely crumbled, then work in about 100ml of liquid ladled from the pan to make a thick, rough cream. A small food processor is fine, but pulse rather than running it continuously; the almonds should thicken the sauce, not turn into almond butter.

7. 7

   Add olives last

   Stir the majado into the sauce around the chicken, then add the drained olives. Cook uncovered at a gentle simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until the sauce lightly coats a spoon and the chicken is tender. The thickest piece must reach at least 74°C. Adding the olives only now lets them season the braise without making it bitter.

   If the sauce becomes too thick, loosen it with 30ml of water. If it remains thin, lift out the cooked chicken and simmer the sauce alone for 2 to 3 minutes.
8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Remove the bay leaf and taste the sauce before adding more salt. Use some or all of the reserved 2g only if it needs it, since the olives continue seasoning the pan. Rest the chicken off the heat for 5 minutes, scatter over the remaining parsley, and serve with plenty of bread for the almond-and-wine sauce.

Chef Tips

• •Buy plain Manzanilla de Sevilla olives if you can. Gordal gives a fleshier, milder result, while Hojiblanca is firmer and a little more bitter. Avoid olives stuffed with pepper or garlic; their filling takes over the sauce.
• •Use water rather than salty packaged stock. The browned chicken, wine, sofrito, majado, and olives make their own broth, and water leaves you room to control the final seasoning.
• •Choose a dry, unoaked white wine you would willingly drink. Fino can replace it in the same amount and gives a drier, nuttier sauce, but it also brings more salt, so hold back the final 2g.
• •Boneless chicken thighs work on a hurried evening. Use 900g and shorten the covered braise to 15 minutes before adding the majado and olives. The meat cooks faster, though the sauce has a little less body without the bones.
• •Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and keep them for up to 3 days. Reheat gently with a splash of water; a hard boil can split the almond sauce and make the chicken stringy.
• •Serve this with fried or boiled potatoes, plain rice, or a sturdy loaf. The sauce is the part people chase around the plate, so give it something to land on.

Advance Preparation

• •Season the chicken with the first 6g of salt up to 8 hours ahead and refrigerate it uncovered. Take it out 20 minutes before cooking.
• •The fried almond, bread, and garlic mixture can be prepared and ground with the parsley up to 24 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the refrigerator and add the braising liquid only when finishing the dish.
• •For a meal made one day ahead, cook the chicken and majado until the meat is fully done, but leave out the olives. Cool promptly and refrigerate. Reheat gently, add the olives, and simmer for the final 10 minutes so their flavor stays clean.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 370g)