Saucy Mediterranean Chicken with Rice

September. Labor Day weekend and the tourists leave and Vermont exhales and becomes its own again. I wrote this observation last year and the year before and it remains true and I keep writing it because it is the most accurate description of what happens to Vermont in September that I have found. The leaves will not turn for another three weeks. The days are still warm at noon. But the mornings have that specific coolness now — the kind that smells like apples and wood smoke even before the apples are fully ripe and even before anyone has lit a fire. It is the smell of the season changing before the season has officially changed.

The French radishes are done for the year. I planted a second succession in August and they are not as good as the June ones — too warm, the roots a bit pithy, the peppery flavor more aggressive and less interesting. The season for radishes is June. I plant the August ones anyway, out of habit and because every year I hope the August ones will be as good as the June ones, and every year they are not, and every year I plant them again. This is the gardening version of hope.

I roasted a chicken Sunday — the first roast chicken of fall, which requires a certain shift in kitchen thinking from the fresh-and-light of summer to the slow-and-warm of what comes next. One bird, four pounds, rubbed with butter and herbs under the skin and over it, roasted at 450 degrees for an hour. The skin was perfect. The juices ran clear. I made a pan sauce with the drippings and a splash of the hard cider from the farm stand. This chicken will make stock tomorrow and the stock will make soup Tuesday and by Wednesday the chicken will have produced everything it possibly can. That is the right relationship between cook and ingredient.

The garden is winding down. The cellar is full. September has arrived exactly on schedule, as it does every year. I have never once known it to be late.

That Sunday bird — rubbed with butter, roasted at high heat, finished with a hard cider pan sauce — reminded me why I keep a short list of reliable chicken recipes for exactly this moment in the calendar year. When the kitchen shifts from summer’s quick meals to fall’s longer, warmer ones, I want something saucy and unhurried, something that fills the house the way the wood smoke will once the stove gets lit. This Saucy Mediterranean Chicken with Rice is the version I reach for when I want that same slow comfort but with a few more aromatics on the plate — the kind of dish that fits September the way a flannel shirt fits a cool morning.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 lbs total)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt, divided
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with juices
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving

Instructions

Season the chicken. Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels. Combine paprika, oregano, cumin, 3/4 tsp salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture evenly over all sides of the chicken.
Sear for crisp skin. Heat olive oil in a large, deep oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Place chicken skin-side down and sear without moving for 5–6 minutes until the skin is deep golden brown. Flip and sear the other side for 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to the same pan with the drippings and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Add rice and liquids. Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute, coating the grains in the drippings. Pour in the diced tomatoes with their juices and the chicken broth. Add the remaining 1/4 tsp salt and stir to combine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Braise together. Nestle the seared chicken thighs, skin-side up, into the rice mixture. Scatter the olives around the chicken. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and cook for 25–30 minutes until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through (internal temperature of 165°F).
Rest and finish. Remove the lid and let the pan rest off heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with crumbled feta and fresh parsley. Serve directly from the pan with lemon wedges alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Saucy Mediterranean Chicken with Rice — The First Roast of Fall in a Vermont Kitchen