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Chicken Salmoriglio
Salmoriglio, a sauce/marinade from southern Italy (specifically, Calabria and Sicily), is a simple mixture of extra-virgin olive oil, lemon, garlic and herbs. For this oven-cooked recipe, we make a fragrant base of grated lemon zest, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, then use some to season bone-in chicken thighs and the rest as the foundation for the salmoriglio that sauces the finished chicken. Rather than use the juice of fresh lemons to make the salmoriglio, we squeeze lemon halves that have been roasted with the chicken. The oven heat mellows the acidity so the sauce has a subtle sweetness and a more restrained tartness.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t skip the step of cutting slashes into the chicken. The cuts allow the seasonings to get into the meat for better flavor throughout and also help speed the cooking.
45 minutes
Ingredients
-
1
tablespoon grated lemon zest, plus 2 lemons halved crosswise
-
2
medium garlic cloves, finely grated
Directions
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01Heat the oven to 475°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Grate 1 tablespoon zest from the lemons, then halve the lemons and trim off the pointed ends so the halves sit stably with cut sides facing up; set the lemon halves aside. In a small bowl, stir together the zest, garlic, dried oregano, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Measure 1 tablespoon of the lemon-garlic mixture into a large bowl. Stir 4 tablespoons of oil into the remaining mixture; set aside.
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May 20, 2023
Just awesome!
Though I never trust your temperatures; 177F? Usually results in pink chicken, I typically ad 3-5 minutes of cooking time as I don't like raw chicken! Why do you say 177F?
May 12, 2023
So Delicious!!
This is a flavor explosion in the best possible way!! Made exactly as written, and it will definitely be on rotation at my house.
April 4, 2023
Delicious, Easy, Fast!
I'm definitely including this in my weekly rotation & will be using the sauce in other applications such as grilled fish and other meats. I did omit the honey -- after a bit of research on salmoriglio sauces, I found that honey is non-traditional, and besides, I prefer my chicken and fish in the savory side. I assume the honey is there to allow the speed up of maillard reaction on the chicken and let it brown in the quick cooking time. I found, however, that is isn't necessary as my chicken turned brown in the time it cooked in my convection oven at the temperature noted in the recipe (475). I will experiment with other herbs (parsley, thyme) but am definitely using this recipe for many other applications. YUM!
April 2, 2023
Delicious, Quick and Easy
I saw this come in an email. It really appealed to me. It comes from a regional in Italy my friend loves to visit. I did use half the chicken but made all the sauce. Probably used a bit much on each piece, so I'll cut back. I also had seen the lemon cake recipe which showed Italian Lemons, and indicated that they added sugar to replicate those lemons. Will try this next time. This is definitely one we will do again, my husband loved it!
February 11, 2023
Delicious and easy
This was so easy to make and the flavors really took it to a restaurant level dish. I couldn't find fresh oregano so I'm guessing it will be even better when I do.
I halved the recipe. There was very little marinade in the large bowl so it didn't make sense to roll the chicken around. I just spread what I had out on the tops of the chicken. Other than that it was delicious. What did I do wrong? With 3 lbs of chicken and 3 tbs of marinade doesn't seem like it would have been different.
I was so excited to make this recipe, but my oven started smoking after ten minutes! It looks like the honey-oil mixture burnt. I had to take the tray out, move the chicken to a new pan, and put them back in at 375 to finish cooking. Did no one else have a problem with the 475?
Hi Eva -
We are so sorry this didn't work for you! We aren't sure what went wrong since, as you have noted, others haven't had this issue and you can see Rosie make it in the linked video and she didn't have issues either. Did you make sure to slash the chicken down to the bone and rub the seasoning mixture deep into the slashes? We wonder if there was too much of the seasoning mixture on the exterior that may have burned on the pan. If so, it may be that your oven is running too hot. In the future we would recommend lowering the temperature to 450 degrees and cooking the chicken a little longer, following the visual clues for doneness.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
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Very simple to make, with lots of flavour. I added other raw veggies to the salad.