Today’s dish of Andalusian chicken with olives is inspired by the southern region of Spain.

The sheer span of the area means a wide variety of climates, which means a lots of different raw ingredients from which to fashion some pretty fabulous cuisine. When trying to decide what to make today, I scoured the web for a dish that was classic Andalusian and came up with a bunch of stuff that I didn’t want to make! I wanted to make something that was noticeably different from what I already made last week or am planning on making in the next few. You know, to keep things fresh. Being near the sea, Andalusian foods use a lot of seafood, which is all fine and dandy, but I’m making paella later this week, and so seafood was out. Another popular option was pork, but I already have pork in line for Portugal next week, so no to that option as well. And while gazpacho may be the most popular and well known Andalusian dish, it’s 30 degrees outside, so the thought of a cold vegetable soup sounded less than appealing. Therefore, I decided to make a dish that pays homage to Andalusian flavors: olives, sherry and broad (fava) beans.

I’m all about using new ingredients so I was excited to bring the sherry and fava beans into my kitchen. My liquor collection is admittedly sub-par for a woman as exciting and fun as I am, and with each passing region and new dish, thankfully, it grows. As for the fava beans, I admittedly had never cooked with them before, and I had previously thought of myself as a bean aficionado. And while I have had a tenuous relationship with olives in the past, my grown-up self has, in recent years, officially become pro-olive.

I hope you enjoy what I’ve come up with to represent Andalusia. I did!

Andalusian Chicken with Olives

January 10, 2013

Servings: 2

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 50 min

Total: 1 hr

Difficulty: Easy

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Andalusian chicken with olives is an easy chicken dish flavored with briny olives and citrus that are so common in the Andalusian region of Spain

By: Chrissy

Ingredients

3 TB olive oil
4 skin on, bone in chicken thighs
1 leek, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 can fava beans
1 tsp thyme
1 TB oregano
3/4 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 can green olives
1/2 can black olives
juice of 1/2 a lemon
handful of parsley
Salt and pepper

Directions

Step 1 Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large, somewhat deep pan. Sear the chicken about 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan.
Step 2
Step 3 Add the leeks, onions and garlic to the pan along with the oregano and thyme. Sauté until soft, about 10 minutes.
Step 4 De-glaze the pan with the sherry, add the chicken broth, chicken and beans and simmer on low about 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through and the beans are tender.
Step 5
Step 6 About 10 minutes before you’re about to serve it, add the olives and lemon juice. Garnish with parsley.