A different Passover

A friend wrote of his Passover dinner, as follows:

“Happy Passover my dear friends! Anita and I had Passover dinner tonight. Lovely dish, Jewish Moroccan chicken with artichokes, turmeric, lemons & cinnamon (also a nice cabernet franc from Languedoc). Just the two of us, Clark the dog is below the table. My son came over, stayed on the porch wearing a mask & picked up take-out from us for he and his partner.

... the eternal cultural heritage of seasonal holidays with family and friends weighs a little heavily tonight. This is not how life is supposed to be. Our table should be full tonight. Despite the absence, my heart is full with family and friends. To those I cannot be with tonight, l’chaim! We will (most of us anyway) come out the other side of this.”

My friend, labor arbitrator Doyle O’Connor, shared the recipe, below. Although it’s from the New York Times, and copy-and-paste-able with a couple of mouse clicks, Doyle incongruously sent a photo of the recipe written in longhand on index cards, copied faithfully by Anita from the newspaper. It made me smile, remembering my mother’s familiar handwriting on the recipes she passed on.

Anita and Doyle, I tried your recipe tonight. I’ll indeed see you on the other side. L’chaim!

Chicken with Artichokes and Lemon
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

2 large lemons

8 fresh globe artichokes (or 8 frozen artichoke bottoms, quartered, or about 1 1/2 cups frozen artichoke hearts)

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds total)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, plus more to garnish

1/2 teaspoon saffron

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed

Directions

1. If using fresh artichokes, fill a large bowl with water. Cut 1 lemon in half then squeeze the juice into the water; add the spent lemon halves to the bowl, too.

2. Prepare the artichokes one at a time, rubbing them all over with the spent lemon halves as you cut and expose the inner artichoke heart. First, cut off at least 1 inch of the thorny top. Trim the stem near the heart, leaving about 2 inches of stem if possible, then peel off the outer green fiber of the stem. Using your fingers, tear off the tough outer leaves, then switch to a sharp paring or bird’s beak knife, when necessary, to shave more inner artichoke leaves until you reach the tender pale green or yellow leaves and create a bulbous shape. Gently open the leaves and remove the choke using a grapefruit spoon or melon baller, then scrape and tear (or slice) the remaining leaves off so that only the bottom remains. Cut the artichoke heart in quarters; put the quarters in the lemon water as you work to prevent discoloration. Discard the rest of the artichoke, leaves and stem, or reserve for another use.

3. Pat chicken dry, then season all over with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat, then add the chicken, skin-side down. Cook, undisturbed until well browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Flip and brown the other side, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken thighs to a plate and spoon out about 3 tablespoons of fat from the pan, if desired. (You can discard the excess fat or save for another use.)

4. Return the skillet to medium heat and add the onion, garlic, parsley and saffron. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the onion, then stir to combine.

5. Add the broth to deglaze, scraping the bottom of the pan, and bring to a simmer over medium-high. Return the chicken to the pan, nestling it into the pan skin-side up. Arrange the artichokes between the chicken pieces, cover, and simmer over medium-low until the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate.

6. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook until the sauce is thickened and the artichokes slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the juice from half the remaining lemon, taste, and adjust with salt and more lemon juice if needed. Spoon artichokes and pan sauces over the chicken, sprinkle with parsley to garnish, and serve.

(Recipe passed on through generations from Esther Soussan Berman, who was born in Morocco and immigrated to the U.S. in 1953 to join her sisters in Brooklyn. Printed in the March 31, 2020 New York Times.)

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Nick Roumel is a principal with Nacht & Roumel PC, a firm in Ann Arbor specializing in employment and civil rights litigation. He has many years of varied restaurant and catering experience, has taught Greek cooking classes, and wrote a food/restaurant column for “Current” magazine in Ann Arbor. Follow him at Twitter or Facebook @nickroumel, or Instagram @nroumel. He is also a candidate for Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge (nickforjudge.com).