Chicken with Mushrooms and Baby Celery
Easy weekend dinner, flavors fit for a celebration! This is a winner and whomever you share your table with will undoubtedly believe you slaved for hours in the kitchen. Sweet roasted vegetables give a great compliment to the brightness of baby celery in this recipe.
Baby celery stalks and leaves are perfectly mild and tangy, and chicken loves tangy!
Baby celery is perfect for roasting and brightening up any meat dish. It has a very mild flavor and the tenderness of the stalks is so amazing! Also, little tip, besides serving as very flavorful garnish, the leaves are perfect addition to any salad. Aromatic and mildly tangy! So don’t throw those leaves out!
Now, for this chicken. I like roasting vegetables along with chicken. They serve as extra seasoning during the baking process. Not to mention how sweet they become as their natural sugars caramelize.
Make sure you add that cup of boiling water right before roasting. Water should be only enough for the chicken pieces to sit on very shallow bed of liquid. If you are using a deeper and smaller pan, you can reduce the water to 3/4 cups. I like to use a baking sheet to allow for room around each element for browning and charring. Seal the foil tightly around the edges of the baking sheet. The instant steam helps seal the moisture inside the chicken pieces and the natural meat juices are locked inside. The last 15 minutes of roasting are dedicated to the browning and caramelizing processes. I like to crank up the heat right at the end to give the chicken skin and veggies a slight char. If you are brave enough, go ahead and do it! But keep a constant eye on your masterpiece! Don’t let the skin burn!
Finish the plate with a few sprinkles of chopped baby celery , parsley and a good drizzle of lemon juice. Enjoy!
Charring and caramelizing gives extra depth of flavors.
Drizzle with lemon and dress with baby celery and parsley.
Chicken with Mushrooms and Baby Celery
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken Thighs
- 4 Chicken Legs
- 1/2 cup Baby Celery Stalks, chopped
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 Tbsp Sweet Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
- 1 tsp Chili Flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
- 1/3 cup Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup Lemon Juice
- 2 Large Onions, thick slices
- 2 cups Mushroom pieces
- 8 slices Sweet Bell Pepper
- A few Baby Celery Leaves
- 1 cup Boiling Water
- Extra Baby Celery Leaves, chopped stalks and parsley leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190C / 375F
- Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl. Add chopped baby celery, garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and chili flakes if using. Mix well to coat pieces. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- On a cookie sheet place the marinated chicken pieces along with the mushrooms, onions and sweet pepper slices. Add a few celery leaves on top.
- Right before putting the tray in the oven, pour the cup of boiling water carefully down one side of the tray without washing away the marinate on the chicken.
- Cover the tray tightly with foil and place the tray on the middle rack of your oven.
- Bake covered for 40 minutes. Then remove foil and bake 15-20 minutes more until the chicken skin is brown and the veggie edges have charred.
- Remove the tray from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- For serving, sprinkle some chopped baby celery leaves, stalks and parsley. Drizzle with a good squirt of lemon juice.