Crispy Chicken with Tsimmes

The arrival of Rosh Hashana next week has caught me flat-footed. It’s been a wonderful summer. Almost unfailingly warm and sunny, it was a perfect time to visit with family and friends, smell the roses, and read my way through the stack of books beckoning from my bedside table. Regrettably (not really), none of these pursuits was conducive to filling my freezer with family holiday favorites, such as, split pea turkey soup, brisket, and apple kugel. But there is still time to prepare this recipe for Crispy Chicken with Tsimmes, from Liz Alpern’s and Jeffrey Yoskowitz’s cookbook, The Gefilte Manifesto.

Crispy Chicken with Tsimmes

Tsimmes is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish side dish typically prepared with root vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots, and cooked with prunes or other dried fruits. The Yiddish word “meren” is translated as both the noun “carrots” and the verb “to increase.” Carrots symbolize our hope that our merits will increase in the coming year. As such, many people maintain the tradition of preparing tsimmes for Rosh Hashanah. In this recipe, cooking the tsimmes nestled under golden chicken quarters sweetened with a honey glaze, allows the juices of the chicken to enhance the flavors of the carrots, sweet potatoes, and prunes. This dish is conveniently prepared in a single skillet and no one will catch me complaining about having one less pot to wash at this busy time of the year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year.

Assemble your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a small bowl combine ginger, honey, 1 tablespoon of oil, salt, red pepper flakes and lemon peel. Reserve the mixture.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, heavy oven-safe skillet over medium heat. (I double-wrapped the handle of my skillet in foil to protect it from the oven’s heat.) Brown the chicken skin-side-down for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet. Add the chicken to a bowl and pour the reserved glaze over the chicken. Coat the chicken on all sides.

Add the onion to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until softened. Add the sweet potatoes and cook stirring for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the prunes. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and scrape up any bits stuck on the bottom of the pan.

Arrange the chicken in a single layer on top of the carrot mixture. Drizzle with any of the glaze left in the bowl. Place chicken uncovered in the preheated oven, on the middle rack.  Bake for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, the skin is crispy and the juices have thickened.

Print Recipe

Crispy Chicken with Tsimmes

Meat, Chicken and Fish

By Liz Alpern, Jeffrey Yoskowitz, The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods – Serves: 6

Prep Time: 25 minutes – Cooking Time: 45 minutes – Total Time: 70 minutes

Golden crispy chicken sweetened with a lemon, ginger honey glaze baked with sauteed carrots, sweet potatoes and prunes

Ingredients

• Glaze
• 2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger root, or, 2 cubes of frozen ginger
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste (I used Aleppo pepper flakes)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• Chicken and tsimmes
• 2 1/2 pounds chicken pieces with bones and skin on (I used 6 legs, thigh and drumstick), seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 onion, halved and thinly sliced into half moons
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds, then sliced into half moons
• 5 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 8 ounces pitted prunes

Instructions

1

Assemble your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

2

In a small bowl combine ginger, honey, 1 tablespoon of oil, salt, red pepper flakes and lemon peel. Reserve the mixture.

3

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, heavy oven safe skillet. (I double-wrapped the handle of my skillet in foil to protect it from the oven's heat.) Brown the chicken skin-side-down for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet. Add the chicken to a bowl and pour the reserved glaze over the chicken. Coat the chicken on all sides.

4

Add the onion to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until softened. Add the sweet potatoes and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the prunes. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and scrape up any bits stuck on the bottom of the pan.

5

Arrange the chicken in a single layer on top of the carrot mixture. Drizzle with any of the glaze left in the bowl. Place chicken uncovered in the preheated oven, on the middle rack.  Bake for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, the skin is crispy, and the juices have thickened.