I’m going to start with a warning: this recipe takes more time and effort than it looks.  That shouldn’t scare you off. Its not hard. But its also not the easy weekday dinner I thought it would be when I open the pages of my cook book one evening on a Tuesday night.  The recipe involves pounding cardamom pods to get at the seeds and has a minimum four hour date with a marinade. (The recipe warns the marination time is critical and I’m inclined to believe it.)  It was good reminder to read through a new recipe in detail before making plans!

I pulled this recipe from Good Meat.  Loren’s posts put this cookbook put it on my Christmas list and Santa seemed to think I was nice enough last year to grant my wish.  Paging through the cookbook is to anyone who loves meat as pornography is to a 15 year old boy.  The book is packed full of awesome information about meats and the processes for cooking them.  And the photos are amazing. I was excited to finally break into a cook of my first recipe from this tome.

Unfortunately, the results were less than stellar.  I would classify the chicken as edible.  Much of the error may be on my end.  Instead of bone-in skin-on thighs I accidentally grabed the boneless skinless variety.  The cardamon flavor was just overwhelming.  The fat of skin-on thighs would help cut this down.  Cardamon is also not flavor I’m very accustomed too.  Though, when I ate the leftovers the second day, the cardamon flavors had mellowed to an enjoyable level.

On the next go I may try reducing the amount of marinated or marinating for only four hours rather than overnight.  There is something good here and I’ll definitely be giving this recipe another go.

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Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup whole green cardamon pods or 1 to 2 tablespoons whole black cardamom seeds out of the pod.
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 tablespoon of kosher salt
• 1/4 cup fresh or dry oregano
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 to 6 large skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Select a shallow pan that will hold the thighs closely in one layer, such as a quarter sheet pan, cast-iron lasagna pan or frying pan, or gratin dish.

Using a mortar and pestle, or a heavy resealable plastic bag on the back of a cast-iron frying pan, pound the cardamom pod until they split. Discard the husks, and bruise the tiny black seed by pounding them a little to release their oils.  Add the garlic, salt, and oregano and bash away to release their oils.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl, then stir in the olive oil to a thin the paste.

Arrange the thighs, flesh side up, in the pan and massage half the paste onto the flesh; turn them over and do the same on the skin side with the remaining paste.  Allow the meat to marinate, covered and refrigerated, for at least 4 hours or overnight before bring back to room temperature.  Grind black pepper over the thighs.

Heat the oven to 450 degree, and set a rack along the top of the oven, just under the heating element (although you are not broiling, this exposes the skin to more heat for crispness).  When the oven is good and hot, roast the chicken for 45 minutes, turning the meat over half way through cooking.

When done, the skin should be beautifully crisp and the flesh completely cooked through.  Serve warm or at room temperature with rice.

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