Braised Chicken Limoncello with Green Beans

Junior year started Monday morning. Up at six-fifteen, bus at six-fifty-five, first period at seven-thirty. The third year of the same routine that I have been running since I was fourteen. The seats are different. The teachers are different. The classes are harder. The schedule is fuller. I am, in addition to junior-year academics, on the new shift-lead-in-training schedule at the Sonic, and I am back as Mrs. Rivera’s TA in advanced home ec, third period this year instead of fifth.

The first shift-lead Monday afternoon at the Sonic went well. Carlos shadowed me for the first hour, then handed off the kitchen for the four-to-eight rush. I did not lose a ticket. The kitchen ran the way the kitchen is supposed to run. The other inside-kitchen employee on the shift, a girl my age named Madison who has been there for three months, called me Kay for the first time on Monday, which is the small step that says I am being absorbed into the older-employee category at the Sonic, the category that the new hires call by the short version of the name.

And the recipe Sunday was Braised Chicken Limoncello with green beans, which is the recipe I had picked deliberately because the recipe is the kind of dish I would not have considered a year ago and that I am ready for now. The dish is from Averie Cooks. Chicken thighs braised in lemon juice and white wine and chicken broth, finished with capers and parsley, served alongside green beans blanched and sauteed in olive oil with garlic. The Italian word limoncello in the title is the lemon-and-wine combination, which gives the chicken a bright sharp flavor that is not like any other chicken I have made.

The wine in the recipe was the part I want to write down. The recipe called for a half cup of dry white wine. We do not buy wine. We have not bought wine in this house in the entire time I can remember. I asked Mama on Wednesday if she would consider buying a small bottle of cooking wine for the recipe. She said no. She said, in the careful flat voice she uses about alcohol, baby, I am not buying wine for this house. You know why. I knew why. The reason is Daddy. The reason has been Daddy for ten years.

I called Aunt Tammy on Thursday and asked if she could bring half a bottle of cooking wine when she came down for the chapbook reading next weekend. She said yes. She said, baby, your mama and I have an arrangement about wine going back to 2007 and you are not the first person who has needed me to bring her a half-bottle for a recipe. She brought a half-bottle of Pinot Grigio over on Saturday afternoon. The bottle sat on the kitchen counter for an hour while Mama considered it. Mama said, finally, I am not going to drink it but you can use it. Then she went outside to the porch.

I used the wine. I cooked the chicken Sunday afternoon. I returned the leftover wine to Aunt Tammy in a small Tupperware container the next morning. The bottle is no longer in the house. The arrangement was that the wine would only be in this kitchen for the cooking and would leave when the cooking was done. The arrangement worked.

The math: chicken thighs from the markdown rack $2.79, a lemon $0.49, the wine free (Aunt Tammy brought it; she has refused reimbursement), capers from a small jar I bought specifically for this $1.99 (the rest will go in salads and pastas for the rest of the year), fresh parsley $0.99, green beans from the produce section $1.49, garlic and chicken broth from the kitchen. Total: about $7.75 for the dinner that fed Mama and me Sunday and Monday and Tuesday.

The technique is the braise. You sear the chicken thighs skin-side-down in a hot cast iron skillet for eight minutes, until the skin is golden and crisp. Flip and cook three more minutes. Take the chicken out. Drain off most of the fat. Lower the heat to medium. Add the lemon juice, the white wine, and a half cup of chicken broth, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for two minutes to reduce slightly. Return the chicken to the pan, skin-side-up. Cover and simmer for fifteen minutes. Stir in two tablespoons of capers and a handful of chopped parsley in the last minute.

The chicken comes out of the pan tender, with a deeply lemony pan sauce that is bright and sharp and grown-up in a way the regular chicken-and-pan-sauce dinners are not. The capers are the surprise. The parsley is the finish.

I served it Sunday at six over rice with the green beans on the side. Mama said, when she ate it, baby, this is the kind of dinner I would have at a real Italian restaurant. I said, thank you for letting me use the wine, Mama. She said, baby, I let you because I trust you. I am writing that on the page in pen.

The recipe is below. The trick is the high heat for the initial sear and the low heat for the braise — do not braise too hot or the chicken dries out. The capers are non-negotiable. If you have a household where alcohol is a sensitive topic, the dish works with chicken broth in place of the wine, with a tablespoon of extra lemon juice to compensate.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 10 min | Servings: 4–6

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 lbs), broken down into pieces (or use bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks)
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 tsp black pepper, divided
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 cup limoncello liqueur (or substitute 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice + 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth + 1 tsp sugar)
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 lemon, thinly sliced
3 sprigs fresh rosemary (or 1/2 tsp dried)
1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

Season the chicken. Pat chicken pieces completely dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Rub the mixture all over the chicken pieces, including under the skin where possible.
Sear for golden skin. Heat olive oil in a large, deep oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place chicken pieces skin-side down and sear without moving for 5–7 minutes, until the skin is deep golden and releases easily. Flip and sear the other side for 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
Build the braising liquid. Reduce heat to medium. Add smashed garlic to the pan and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Pour in limoncello and let it bubble and reduce for 1 minute, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add chicken broth, lemon slices, rosemary, remaining 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
Braise the chicken. Return chicken pieces to the pan, skin-side up, nestling them into the liquid without submerging the skin. Bring to a simmer, then cover with a lid or foil and transfer to a 375°F oven. Braise for 30 minutes.
Add the green beans. Remove the pan from the oven. Tuck the trimmed green beans around the chicken pieces, pressing them into the braising liquid. Return to the oven uncovered and roast for an additional 15–18 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (internal temperature of 165°F) and the skin has crisped back up.
Finish the sauce. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the chicken and green beans to a serving platter. Place the pan over medium heat and stir in butter until melted, letting the sauce reduce for 2–3 minutes until slightly thickened. Discard the rosemary sprigs.
Serve. Spoon the pan sauce generously over the chicken and green beans. Scatter fresh parsley on top and serve immediately with crusty bread, egg noodles, or roasted potatoes to catch every drop of that sauce.

Nutrition (per serving)

Braised Chicken Limoncello with Green Beans — The First Recipe with Wine in This Kitchen