Pollo con Aceitunas (Chicken with olives)

1.8kg chicken jointed into pieces, or 4 chicken legs
3tbsp olive oil
½ Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
½ Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, removed from stems
10 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1tsp sweet paprika
2 onions cut into fine slices
6 garlic cloves left whole
1 small dried chili
70ml dry sherry
150g black olives
1 lemon quartered

Preheat the oven to 190c
Season the chicken with salt. Heat the olive oil in a large low sided pan. Add the chicken pieces, and fry until the skin crisps and turns golden.
Remove the chicken from the pan, place in a owl and toss with the fresh herbs and paprika.
Return the pan to the heat and, using the same oil, fry the onions till they begin to brown. Add the garlic and chilli and continue to cook until the garlic begins to color too. Take great care not to urn the garlic: burnt garlic tastes bitter and can ruin a whole dish.
Add the chicken to the pan together with any loose herbs from the bowl. Pour in the sherry and bake in the oven for about 40 min until the chicken is almost ready.
Add the black olives with the lemon quarters, and return the chicken to the oven for about 5 min. Ensure that the chicken is thoroughly cooked before serving.


I loved this! Loved it loved it loved it. It requires very little effort, and it comes out really beautifully.

I used smoked paprika because it didn’t say not to (I notice that some recipes actually specify, not smoked), and I like it.

I thought it was an interesting way to do the spices too, mixing them onto the chicken between the browning and the cooking. It’s an easy way to coat it all well, and it was also just weirdly fun to do.

Other then that it’s just adding the olives and lemon at the end.

This was from a book I haven’t used before called The Real Taste of Spain. It is a beautiful book, and the recipes look really good too. It this one is any indication, then I will love this book. I’ll be trying some more recipes from it right away.