Chicken with eggplant, tomatoes and almonds is a dish I revisit every summer. It gave me the opportunity to use the last of our frozen roasted tomatoes from summer 2011 with our garden’s first eggplant, a Rosa Bianca. One of the pleasures of gardening is the interesting varieties of vegetables that are available to you. In the past few years some of our newer favorites are from an Italian seed company, Franchi Seeds. We have found several unique varieties of zucchini, candy striped Chiogga beets and Rosa Bianca eggplant to name just a few. The Rosa Bianca is a teardrop shaped Italian heirloom variety of eggplant with rosy lavender skin. It has milky-white flesh that is denser than most eggplant. No need to salt and weight this eggplant to get rid of bitterness. When cooked, it has a delicate creamy flavor. In this dish it cooks down to almost a sauce. Aromatic spices make this a dish that smells as good as it tastes.
This is a good make-ahead meal, keep the chicken and the eggplant separate until finishing the dish. When eggplants are plentiful, I will double up on the amount of eggplant I use in the recipe. A can of drained chickpeas would be a good addition. Serve with Israeli couscous or basmati rice to sop up all the wonderful juices.
Chicken with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Almonds
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients
- 3 T olive oil, divided
- 1 ½ c thinly sliced onions
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 ½ t Hungarian sweet paprika
- 1 ½ t coarse kosher salt
- ½ t turmeric
- ½ t ground coriander
- 1 t fennel seeds, ground
- 1 t freshly ground pepper
- ½ t ground cumin
- ¼ t ground ginger
- 1 28 oz canned tomatoes or one quart roasted tomatoes
- 1 ½T fresh lemon juice
- 8 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
- 1 large eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 T fresh oregano
- ¼ c slivered almonds
- Chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
- Pat chicken thighs dry. Season on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 T olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering, not smoking, add chicken, skin side down, do not crowd. Cook on first side until skin is golden, 4 to 5 minutes. With tongs, flip on other side and cook for an additional 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Add onions cook until soft, about 6-8 minutes. Add garlic to pot and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add paprika, salt, turmeric, coriander, fennel, pepper, cumin, and ginger; stir 1 minute. Add tomatoes with their juices and lemon juice, bring to a boil.
- Arrange chicken in a single layer in the Dutch oven, spoon some sauce over the chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes turning chicken pieces with tongs halfway through cooking, While the chicken is cooking, preheat oven to 400°F. Brush a large rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. Place eggplant and 2 T olive oil in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread eggplant out on prepared baking sheet and bake until soft and brown, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes.
- Stir eggplant and oregano into chicken. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes to heat through and blend flavors. Season to taste with more lemon juice, salt and pepper. Transfer chicken to shallow serving bowl. Sprinkle with almonds and cilantro.
Beautiful Rosa Bianca eggplant.
