Athenian (Greek) Chicken and Potatoes

For some reason, in my home town we don't have diners - we have a lot of Greek delis.  I don't know how this happened, somehow the American restaurant icon got disenfranchised by a local demographic and the customers discover that they would rather have a gyros omelette over scrapple and chipped beef.  One of the staple dishes I grew up with was called Greek chicken, also called Athenian chicken in places that charged you a dollar or two more for the fancier wording.  Regardless, it's good, ol' fashioned comfort food - healthy, fairly mild, hearty - that I have tweaked a number of times until getting something vaguely reminiscent of what I used to eat as a child.  Enjoy!


Athenian Chicken and Potatoes
modified from Bon Appétit, April 1992

• 1 4-5 pound chicken, quartered
• 3-4 russet potatoes (about 2.5 pounds), peeled, quartered, lengthwise
• 4 large garlic cloves, halved
• 1 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled – perhaps slightly more
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat oven to 375°F. Arrange chicken (skin side up), potatoes, and garlic in large roasting pan. Place at least one half of a garlic clove under chicken pieces, if possible.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour broth over.  Whisk olive oil, lemon juice and oregano to combine.  Pour evenly over chicken and potatoes.

Bake until chicken is cooked through and golden brown and potatoes are tender, basting every 20 minutes with pan juices, about 1 hour 5 minutes.  Tent with aluminum foil, bake for another 10 minutes.  Serve with lemon wedges.  If potatoes are not browned, remove chicken and roast at 425 until cooked, up to 20 minutes more.

Serve with something green and make yourself a nice homecooked meal

Kokkinisto (Greek Braised Red Lamb with Tomatoes)

This year, Christmas Eve was spent cooking, taking pictures, and frantically trying to scribble down a surprise recipe that I would be proud to call the best lamb recipe I have ever made.  I think I need to just start following my brother around and taking notes on everything he does.  When I showed up yesterday to help make dinner, he was making two boneless legs of lamb into a dish that didn't sound quite my style.  So I asked if I could set one aside to do something different.  And while I'm rummaging around in my recipe folder for a lamb recipe, he just busts this one out off the top of his head, rivaling the best Greek restaurant lamb dish I've ever tried.  After thinking about it for the duration of the cooking process, he finally goes, "it's called kokonisto or something".  So we looked it up, and sure enough, there's a dish called kokkinisto, and even without a recipe he basically nailed it.  It's a braised meat dish (kokkinisto means "reddened" in Greek, I believe) cooked in tomato, and often with red wine, and just a tiny hint of cinnamon to accentuate the spiced flavors.  Usually lamb is used, but I found recipes for beef and chicken on the web as well.

Kokkinisto - braised lamb in a tomato sauce.  OMG.

I present the recipe as I will make it moving forward, just adding some red wine and serving over orzo, a rice-shaped pasta that really helps hold the sauce and is a traditional accompaniment in Greek restaurants.  But this was excellent on its own, and I devoured every bite, excited to make this again at my house.  And you should make it in yours.