7:30 Sharp · Dinner card

Chicken with Dates, Olives & Lemon

7:30

Burnished thighs with sticky dates, bright green olives, and roasted lemon wedges on one tray looks like the cover of a cookbook you would never actually open. It is chicken with five things scattered over it, and the oven does all of the cooking while you are in the shower.

Cost for two

$26

Active

25 min

Hands off at

7:15

Allergens

Wheat (couscous)

Shopping list · aisle order

Produce

2 Lemons
1 Red onion
1 head Garlic
1 box Pitted dates

Meat & Seafood

4 Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

Pantry & Canned

1 jar Pitted green olives
1 jar Dried oregano
1 box Plain couscous

Pantry (you probably have these)

Salt, pepper, olive oil

Gear

One sheet tray, foil, one mixing bowl, a plate to use as a lid, a phone timer. A probe thermometer ($12) is strongly recommended for chicken. A kettle for the couscous water is nice; a microwave and a mug work the same.

The 7:30 Timeline

5:30	T-120	Unpack. Read this whole page once. Take the chicken out of the fridge.
5:45	T-105	Onion: peel it, cut it in half, cut each half into 4 wedges. Into the bowl.
5:50	T-100	Dates: count out 10, squeeze each once to check there is no pit. Olives: 1 cup, drained. Both into the bowl.
5:55	T-95	Garlic: 6 cloves, smashed flat under the side of a knife, skins pulled off. One lemon cut into 6 wedges. Into the bowl.
6:00	T-90	Add 2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon oregano. Toss with your hands. Tip onto the foil-lined tray and spread out.
6:05	T-85	Chicken: pat each thigh dry with paper towels. Rub with 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon oregano, a lot of pepper.
6:10	T-80	Thighs skin-side UP on the tray, spaced apart. Push the dates under the edges of the thighs so they are shaded, not exposed. Plastic wrap. Fridge.
6:30	T-60	Couscous: 1 cup couscous, 1 cup boiling water, a pinch of salt, a glug of oil in the bowl. Put a plate on top. Timer: 5 min.
6:36	T-54	Fluff with a fork. Squeeze half the second lemon over it. Cut the other half into 2 wedges for the plates. Plate back on top.
6:45	T-45	Dishes done, counters wiped. Starter and spritz done.
7:00	T-30	Turn the oven to 400°F. Tray out of the fridge, plastic off.
7:10	T-20	Shower. The oven preheats without you.
7:15	T-15	Hands off from here. Tray in, middle rack. Timer: 50 min.
7:20	T-10	Music on, lights down, table set.
7:25	T-5	Apron off, apartment check, spritz pitcher and glasses out.
7:30	T-0	She arrives. She arrives. Nothing on the stove needs you. The apartment smells like oregano and roasting lemon. Pour the spritz.
7:45	T+15	Starter out. The spritz and the starter cover you until the timer goes.
8:05	T+35	Timer goes. Pull the tray. Probe the thickest thigh next to the bone: 165°F. Leave the tray on the stovetop 5 min.
8:08	T+38	Couscous: microwave 90 seconds, or skip it — the hot tray juices spooned over it do the same job.
8:10	T+40	Plate (see Plating). Serve.

Chicken with Dates, Olives & Lemon · Method

1Line the sheet tray with foil, shiny side down. Do this first so the tray is ready when your hands are oily.
2Peel the red onion, cut it in half through the root, then cut each half into 4 wedges. Put them in the mixing bowl.
3Count out 10 dates. Give each one a squeeze; if you feel something hard, split the date with your thumbs and pull the pit out. Into the bowl.
4Drain 1 cup of olives in your hand over the sink and add them to the bowl.
5Lay 6 garlic cloves on the board, press the flat side of a knife down on each until it cracks, and pull the papery skin off. Into the bowl.
6Cut one lemon into 6 wedges. Into the bowl, peel and all — the peel goes soft and sweet in the oven.
7Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil over the bowl, then 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon dried oregano. Toss everything with your hands until it glistens.
8Tip the bowl onto the foil-lined tray and spread it out into one layer.
9Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels, both sides. Dry skin browns; wet skin steams and stays pale.
10Rub the thighs with 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon oregano, and a good amount of pepper. Use your hands; then wash your hands with soap.
11Set the thighs on top of the tray skin-side up, with space between them. Do not let them touch.
12Push the dates under the edges of the thighs so the chicken shades them. Exposed dates burn; sheltered dates turn to caramel.
13Cover the tray loosely with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until 7:00.
14Couscous at 6:30: put 1 cup couscous in the washed mixing bowl with a pinch of salt and a glug of oil. Pour 1 cup boiling water over it. Put a plate on top and set a 5-minute timer.
15Lift the plate and fluff the couscous with a fork until no clumps remain. Squeeze half the second lemon over it and put the plate back on.
16At 7:00, turn the oven to 400°F and take the tray out of the fridge. Peel off the plastic.
17At 7:15, slide the tray onto the middle rack and set a 50-minute timer.
18At the timer, pull the tray. Check doneness (below). Let it rest on the stovetop for 5 minutes; the juices settle and the skin stays crisp.
19Spoon the juices from the tray over the couscous when you plate. That is the sauce; there is no other sauce.

Is it done? No experience needed

Thermometer: slide the probe into the thickest part of the biggest thigh, next to the bone but not touching it. 165°F. Under that, 8 more minutes and check again. No thermometer: cut into the thickest thigh next to the bone with a knife. The meat should be white or beige all the way to the bone, the juices should run clear (not pink), and the meat should pull away from the bone without a fight. Any pink at the bone means 8 more minutes.

The #1 way to screw it up

The chicken skin comes out pale and soft instead of brown and crisp — the thighs were wet when they went on, or they were touching, or the oven was not fully hot at 7:15.

Recovery

Confirm the chicken reads 165°F first. Then move the oven rack to the top slot, turn on the broiler, and put the tray back for 3 to 4 minutes. Stand at the oven with the door cracked and watch; pull the tray the moment the skin spots brown. Say "one more minute" to the room; it is true. If you would rather not broil, the thighs are cooked and delicious either way — spoon extra juices over and nobody has ever sent back a pale thigh.

Plating

Spoon a wide bed of couscous across the center of each plate and drizzle a spoonful of the tray juices over it. Set two thighs on top, skin-side up and overlapping slightly, then tuck dates, olives, onion, and two roasted lemon wedges around them so the colors are all touching the chicken. Finish with a fresh lemon wedge on the rim and a crack of pepper over the skin, and nothing else.

Vegetarian swap

Two large sweet potatoes cut into thick wedges (no peeling) and one 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained and patted dry, tossed with the same onion, dates, olives, garlic, lemon, oregano, and oil. Same foil tray, same 400°F oven, 40 minutes instead of 50, in at 7:25. The sweet potato goes soft and burnished; the chickpeas go crunchy at the edges; the couscous and the plate are identical.

What to pour

Wine. a fruity, soft red served slightly cool — Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel, about $11, at Safeway. Sweet dates and salty olives want fruit, not oak.

Beer. Blue Moon or another wheat beer with an orange slice.

No alcohol. San Pellegrino Limonata over ice with a squeeze of the leftover lemon.

The practice run. Cook this once on a weeknight for yourself before the real night. Twenty dollars of groceries buys you the one thing the card can't: having done it before. 730sharp.com