Braised Chicken in Milk
This is Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk recipe which I first sighted on thekitchn.com. Once I saw that lovely bird in the dutch oven I knew I needed to try it out. The bird is browned in a little butter and olive oil until golden then the rest of the ingredients are added prior to braising.
I had read the reviews and most folks were pretty grossed out that the sauce would be curdled. I had wondered what it would be like if I had added a cup of rice to the sauce. What I did was after browning the bird in only 1 T. butter and 1 T. olive oil, I removed it to a plate and then browned a cup of jasmine rice.
I then made a well in the rice, topped it with the chicken, added the lemon zest, salt and pepper, sage, cinnamon stick, and garlic cloves with the skin still on. Then I poured the milk over all of it. Covered and braised for 90 minutes at 375 degrees.
This was such a beautiful looking bird before baking that I could not wait for the results.
After removing the chicken I had the most wonderful rice to spoon from the pot. It was cooked perfectly but look at all the crispy parts, my favorite.
I followed Jamie's directions except I did cover it the entire cooking time as I hate dry birds. I don't know if it was the best braised chicken I ever had but it is in my top five. With a hint of cinnamon and lemon the flavor it was wonderful.
The rice was the best and I was so glad to have added it. Next time I will double the rice and milk!
The garlic squeezed easily from its skins and spread like butter on fresh baguette slices.
This meal is a definite keeper. Give it a try.
By Robin
Chicken in Milk - adapted from Jamie Oliver
Ingredients:
- 4 pound organic chicken
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 T. butter
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 cup rice
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- zest of 2 lemons
- 10 garlic cloves still in their skins
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cups milk
Directions:
In a large Dutch oven, brown the chicken that has been seasoned generously with salt and pepper in butter and olive oil. Remove to plate. Pour out excess fat (I forgot to do this and my rice was a tad greasy) and then brown rice, stirring occasionally. Make a well in the rice and place chicken in the well. Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper. Add the remaining ingredients and cover and braise 90 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove chicken from the bones and serve on platter with rice. Pull out garlic cloves and use to spread on fresh bread slices. Serves 5-6. Makes about 3 cups of rice.
Note - I think I will try to braise it at 350 degrees next time as it was a wee bit over cooked. I don't like it to completely fall off the bone, ya know what I mean?
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