Ingredients
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4 whole chicken breasts, skin-on,bone-in,split
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9 cloves garlic (or more)
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1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
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1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
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4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
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1/2 teaspoon sugar
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1 lb dried cannellini beans or 3 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
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1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (or more)
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2 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemons, rind of
Instructions
- If using dry beans, rinse beans and place in bowl.
- Cover with three inches of water; leave to soak overnight or at least eight hours.
- Drain beans.
- Place in large saucepan, coverered with three inches of water.
- Do NOT salt.
- Allow to simmer one to two hours till soft (older beans take longer).
- Drain.
- If using canned beans, empty beans into colander and rinse well with warm water.
- Place chicken in baking dish large enough to accomodate all the pieces.
- A 12" x 9" pan should be adequate.
- Roughly chop five (or more if you love it) cloves of garlic.
- Sprinkle chopped garlic with coarse salt.
- Mash garlic and salt into a paste.
- Rub paste onto chicken pieces; sprinkle with ground pepper.
- Whisk together the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of rosemary, the grated rind and the sugar.
- Pour mixture over chicken, cover chicken and chill up to three hours.
- If you like, you can turn it in the marinade once or twice--not a critical step.
- Preheat oven to 350°F Place drained cannellini in a large skillet.
- Add the remaining garlic, chopped fine, the remaining rosemary and olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Uncover chicken and bake 35-40 minutes, basting occasionally.
- Remove from oven.
- Preheat broiler.
- Broil chicken till golden brown--3-5 minutes.
- When the chicken is almost done, gently warm the beans till heated through.
- Ladle beans onto serving platter.
- Top with chicken and juices from pan.
- Note: If you would like more sauce (and your baking dish is safe for the stovetop--if not, scrape any fond into a saute pan), place baking dish over medium high heat, add a splash of white wine and or chicken stock, deglaze and reduce.