About this recipe

✨

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Why you’ll love it

Juicy chicken thighs, sweet prunes, toasted walnuts, soft onions, garlic, paprika, and lemon make this Balkan main dish glossy, rich, and deeply comforting. 🍗

Ingredients

• Chicken and onions 🍗
• 🍗 900 g bone-in chicken thighs, skin-on or skinless (4 large / 2 lb)
• 🧅 350 g onions, thinly sliced (3 medium / 12.3 oz)
• 🧄 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (5 cloves / 0.8 oz)
• 🫒 45 ml olive oil (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🧈 25 g butter (2 tbsp / 0.9 oz) dairy
• 🌶 7 g sweet paprika (2½ tsp / 0.25 oz)
• 🌶 1 g smoked paprika, optional (½ tsp / 0.03 oz)
• 🧂 9 g fine sea salt (1½ tsp / 0.32 oz)
• ⚫ 2 g black pepper (1 tsp / 0.07 oz)
• 🍃 2 bay leaves
• Prune walnut sauce 🌰
• 🍑 180 g dried prunes, pitted (1 cup / 6.3 oz)
• 🌰 80 g walnuts, lightly toasted (¾ cup / 2.8 oz)
• 🍋 25 ml lemon juice (1 tbsp + 2 tsp / 0.85 fl oz)
• 🍋 5 g lemon zest (1 tbsp / 0.17 oz)
• 🍯 10 g honey, optional (1½ tsp / 0.35 oz)
• 💧 350 ml chicken stock or warm water (1½ cups / 12 fl oz)
• 🌿 15 g fresh parsley, chopped (½ cup loose / 0.5 oz)
• To serve ✨
• 🥔 Mashed potatoes, rice, polenta, or crusty bread gluten
• 🌿 Extra parsley
• 🍋 Lemon wedges
• 🌰 Extra chopped walnuts

Preparation

• Season the chicken 🍗 Pat the chicken dry. Season with salt, black pepper, sweet paprika, and smoked paprika if using. Let it stand for 10 min while you slice the onions and garlic.
• Sear for color 🔥 Heat olive oil and butter in a wide heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sear for 5 min per side, until golden. Remove to a plate.
• Soften the onions 🧅 Lower the heat to medium. Add onions to the same pan and cook for 9 min, stirring often, until soft, sweet, and lightly golden. Add garlic and cook for 40 sec.
• Build the paprika base 🌶 Stir in bay leaves and a small pinch of extra paprika if desired. Add chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan so all the browned flavor goes into the sauce.
• Add prunes and chicken 🍑 Return the chicken to the pan. Add prunes around the pieces. Cover and simmer gently for 24 min, turning the chicken once halfway through.
• Finish glossy 🌰 Uncover the pan. Add walnuts, lemon juice, lemon zest, and honey if using. Simmer for 8 min more, spooning sauce over the chicken, until the sauce is glossy and the chicken is tender.
• Rest briefly 🛋 Turn off the heat and rest for 5 min. The sauce will settle and cling better to the chicken.
• Serve warm 🍋 Sprinkle with parsley and extra walnuts. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, polenta, or crusty bread to catch the paprika onion sauce.

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