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Chicken Vesuvio

By Andrea Geary

Published on June 28, 2018

Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 4 to 6

Chicken Vesuvio

Ingredients

8 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmedKosher salt and pepper 1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, halved crosswise2 tablespoons vegetable oil 14 garlic cloves, peeled (2 whole, 12 halved lengthwise)1 tablespoon lemon juice 1½ teaspoon dried oregano ½ teaspoon dried thyme 1½ cups dry white wine 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Before You Begin

For this recipe you'll need a roasting pan that measures at least 16 by 12 inches. Trim all the skin from the underside of the chicken thighs, but leave the skin on top intact. To ensure that all the potatoes fit in the pan, halve them crosswise to minimize their surface area. For the most efficient browning, heat the roasting pan over two burners. Combining the garlic with lemon juice in step 1 makes the garlic taste less harsh, but only if the lemon juice is added immediately after the garlic is minced.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and sprinkle on both sides with 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Mince 2 whole garlic cloves and immediately combine with lemon juice in small bowl; set aside.
  2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large roasting pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place chicken, skin side down, in single layer in pan and cook, without moving it, until chicken has rendered about 2 tablespoons of fat, 2 to 3 minutes. Place potatoes cut side down in chicken fat, arranging so that cut sides are in complete contact with surface of pan. Sprinkle chicken and potatoes with oregano and thyme. Continue to cook until chicken and potatoes are deeply browned and crisp, 8 to 12 minutes longer, moving chicken and potatoes to ensure even browning and flipping pieces when fully browned. When all pieces have been flipped, tuck halved garlic cloves among chicken and potatoes. Remove pan from heat and pour wine into pan (do not pour over chicken or potatoes). Return pan to heat and bring to boil. Transfer pan to oven and roast until potatoes are tender when pierced with tip of paring knife and chicken registers 185 to 190 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. Transfer chicken and potatoes to deep platter, browned sides up. Place pan over medium heat (handles will be hot) and stir to incorporate any browned bits. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic cloves to cutting board. Chop coarse, then mash to smooth paste with side of knife. Whisk garlic paste into sauce. Continue to cook until sauce coats back of spoon, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and whisk in reserved lemon juice mixture and 1 tablespoon parsley. Pour sauce around chicken and potatoes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.

Chicken Vesuvio

Save

Time

1 hour

Yield

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

8 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
Kosher salt and pepper
1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, halved crosswise
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
14 garlic cloves, peeled (2 whole, 12 halved lengthwise)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1½ cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Ingredients

8 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
Kosher salt and pepper
1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, halved crosswise
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
14 garlic cloves, peeled (2 whole, 12 halved lengthwise)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1½ cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Ingredients

8 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
Kosher salt and pepper
1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, halved crosswise
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
14 garlic cloves, peeled (2 whole, 12 halved lengthwise)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1½ cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Why This Recipe Works

Chicken Vesuvio is a classic Chicago restaurant dish: crisp-skinned chicken and deeply browned potatoes in a potent garlic and white wine sauce. Line cooks make it one order at a time in a big skillet, which provides plenty of space for browning and sauce reduction and goes handily from stovetop to oven. To transfer chicken Vesuvio to the home kitchen, we traded the customary skillet for a large, heavy roasting pan, which gave us plenty of room for four servings. We heated oil in the roasting pan on the stovetop, browned the chicken thighs and halved Yukon Gold potatoes, and added the traditional dried herbs and plenty of garlic cloves. We poured wine into the pan and moved it to the oven so the chicken, potatoes, and garlic could finish cooking unattended. After transferring the cooked chicken and potatoes to a platter, we returned the pan to the stovetop to reduce the sauce further. Mashing the cooked garlic cloves released polysaccharides, which brought the oil and wine together in a rich emulsion, and some fresh minced garlic, tempered with lemon juice, delivered robust flavor.

Before You Begin

For this recipe you'll need a roasting pan that measures at least 16 by 12 inches. Trim all the skin from the underside of the chicken thighs, but leave the skin on top intact. To ensure that all the potatoes fit in the pan, halve them crosswise to minimize their surface area. For the most efficient browning, heat the roasting pan over two burners. Combining the garlic with lemon juice in step 1 makes the garlic taste less harsh, but only if the lemon juice is added immediately after the garlic is minced.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and sprinkle on both sides with 1½ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Mince 2 whole garlic cloves and immediately combine with lemon juice in small bowl; set aside.
  2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in large roasting pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place chicken, skin side down, in single layer in pan and cook, without moving it, until chicken has rendered about 2 tablespoons of fat, 2 to 3 minutes. Place potatoes cut side down in chicken fat, arranging so that cut sides are in complete contact with surface of pan. Sprinkle chicken and potatoes with oregano and thyme. Continue to cook until chicken and potatoes are deeply browned and crisp, 8 to 12 minutes longer, moving chicken and potatoes to ensure even browning and flipping pieces when fully browned. When all pieces have been flipped, tuck halved garlic cloves among chicken and potatoes. Remove pan from heat and pour wine into pan (do not pour over chicken or potatoes). Return pan to heat and bring to boil. Transfer pan to oven and roast until potatoes are tender when pierced with tip of paring knife and chicken registers 185 to 190 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. Transfer chicken and potatoes to deep platter, browned sides up. Place pan over medium heat (handles will be hot) and stir to incorporate any browned bits. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic cloves to cutting board. Chop coarse, then mash to smooth paste with side of knife. Whisk garlic paste into sauce. Continue to cook until sauce coats back of spoon, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and whisk in reserved lemon juice mixture and 1 tablespoon parsley. Pour sauce around chicken and potatoes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.

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