Chicken Athena

Submitted by TishT

"Found this recipe in Bon Appetit Too Busy to Cook. I don't always have aniseed and ouzo around but the combination is intoxicating! Great accompanied by orzo."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1⁄2 lbs chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons anise seed, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes
• 1⁄2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1⁄4 1/4 cup Pernod or 1/4 cup ricard liqueur
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano, crumbled
• 12 black oil-cured olives, pitted
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

directions

1. Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Sauté chicken in batches if necessary until brown, about 5 minutes per side.
4. Transfer to plate.
5. Pour off all but 2 Tbs drippings from skillet.
6. Add garlic and aniseed and stir 30 seconds.
7. Add tomatoes, broth Ouzo and oregano.
8. Bring mixture to simmer, breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon.
9. Return chicken to skillet.
10. Bring to simmer and cook uncovered 15 minutes.
11. Transfer chicken breasts to plate.
12. Turn chicken pieces in skillet over and simmer 5 minutes longer.
13. Transfer chicken in skillet to same plate.
14. Increase heat to high, add olives and cook until liquid is reduced to sauce consistency, stirring occasionally, about 6 to 8 minutes.
15. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
16. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Reheat gently before continuing.) Sprinkle feta cheese over and serve.

Reviews

[Tanager]

Good recipe - suggestion - add quartered fennel bulb to this recipe and there'll be no need to add ouzo - the bulb will supply the additional anise flavour as well as extra nutrition.

 

[JDauray]

When this recipe was first published in the mid-90's I remember making it. I remembered it enough that in my craving for Greek inspired dishes I went back to this recipe. I still love it and can't figure out why I haven't been making it all along. This time around I found a very high quality Ouzo that had more herbal notes to it. I wanted to up the anise flavor, so I sauteed two fennel bulbs in the chicken drippings before adding in the rest of the ingredients. I also used a can of crushed tomatoes, as opposed to whole. Then I tossed in a tbsp of the fennel fronds, plus a little pour of fresh lemon juice to freshen up the canned tomatoes. I also cooked mine longer overall until the chicken legs were just starting to pull away from the bone. It was delicious. We did an appetizer of saganaki, Chicago Greektown style. I spooned a little of the tomato sauce over it (there was a restaurant across from the International Terminal at O'Hare airport that used to do that - it was my treat every time I came home from college). Then we made some orzo cooked in chicken broth with some lemon and Greek oregano. It was a delicious meal. The chicken is definitely something you could double the batch size on, use for a dressed up Sunday dinner, and then have leftovers for the family for a good part of the week, Definitely recommend

 

[rosslare]

Very good! Suggestions of adding fennel or sambuca are interesting and I just might have to try them.

 

[Paris D]

This was incredible! I only made it to use some of the Pernod we have - otherwise we'll never finish it. The flavors were all perfectly balanced. I don't like licorice and was afraid that the anise and Pernod would be too strong for me. It wasn't - it was just awesome! We will make this until the bottle of Pernod is gone (which will be a sad day, but I'm not buying more).

 

[CASunshine]

Really flavorful and smelled so good while cooking. I used Sambuca instead of ouzo and left out the aniseed as I didn't have any and was too lazy to go to the store. I don't think the recipe suffered a bit. Excellent!