This vibrant, flavourful slow-cooked chicken dish is our new Sunday supper go-to

We all have a few dishes in our culinary repertoire that we reserve for a day where we really want to treat ourselves. When we saw this vibrant, slow-cooked chicken dish while flipping through the pages of Amy Rosen’s new cookbook, Toronto Eats: 100 Signature Recipes from the City’s Best Restaurants, we knew we found a new favourite to add to those ranks. Straight off the menu at the city’s budding rotisserie empire, Flock, the combo of juicy, fall-apart chicken, buttery corn pudding (!) and crumbly cheese topping sealed the deal.

Slow-Cooked Chicken with Tomatillos, Poblano Peppers, Sheep’s Milk Cheese and Corn Pudding

By Corey Vitiello

Ingredients

• 6 chicken legs, bone-in, skin-on
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 tomatillos, husked, washed and halved
• 3 poblano chilies, stemmed, seeded and quartered lengthwise
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• Juice and zest of 2 limes
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• ½ bunch fresh cilantro, stems and roots chopped (set aside leaves for garnish)
• 1 tbsp salt

Corn pudding:

• 8 ears of corn, kernels removed
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
• ½ tbsp salt

Assembly:

• ½ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Butter (optional)
• ½ cup crumbled fresh soft sheep’s milk cheese (such as feta)
• Cilantro leaves
• ½ charred lemon (optional)
• Pickled red onion, thinly sliced (optional)

Preparation

For slow-cooked chicken:

Season chicken legs with salt and pepper. Heat canola oil in a frying pan on high. Add chicken legs, skin-side down, and sear for 5 minutes, until golden brown. Flip and sear for another 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.

Heat olive oil a large heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium-high heat. Add tomatillos and cook for 15 minutes, until browned, blistered, and the juices are released. Add chilies, onions, garlic, fennel seeds, lime juice and zest, and wine and cook for 5 minutes, until wine has reduced by a quarter.

Add chicken to the pan, pour in stock, and add cilantro stems and roots and salt. Ensure that three-quarters of the chicken is covered in liquid (add more stock, if needed). Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir gently, cover, and cook for another 45 to 60 minutes, until the meat falls of the bone. The end result should be slightly soupy. If there is too much liquid and you want to thicken and intensify the stock, carefully transfer the chicken to a plate, increase heat to high, and boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Return chicken to the pan.

For corn pudding:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place corn kernels and water into a blender, working in batches if necessary, and purée for several minutes, until silky smooth. Transfer corn to a small roasting pan, add butter and salt, stir, and bake for about 30 minutes. Stir and then bake for another 60 minutes, until thickened. (You want the pudding to cook down very slowly to reduce and concentrate its naturally sweet flavour.)

For assembly:

Stir Parmigiano-Reggiano into the corn pudding and add a knob of butter, if desired.

Spoon a generous amount of corn pudding into a wide-rimmed plate or wide bowl and spread it out slightly, leaving a well in the centre. Spoon a chicken leg and a generous amount of sauce into the well. Garnish with sheep’s milk cheese and cilantro leaves, plus lemon and red onion, if using.

Copyright 2017, Amy Rosen; reproduced with permission of Figure 1 Publishing. Recipes copyright by individual restaurants.