Grapes, in season now, are roasted in chicken pan drippings with mushrooms, shallots and rosemary for a deliciously autumnal dinner. Recipe below.
Seasonal cooking can refer to working with ingredients that are in season. It can also refer to using seasonal cooking methods. This week’s recipe is a mix of both. Temperatures recently took on an autumn coolness here, encouraging me to turn on the oven and roast something for the first time in a while. For the seasonal ingredient, I chose grapes.
Yes, grapes. Thanks to the increasingly global reach of grocery stores, you can find them pretty much year-round. But North American grapes are at their peak in early fall, sweet, beautiful and abundant.
For this dish, I chose red seedless grapes—they were beautiful and available. Black grapes would work well too, as would green grapes. The grapes are roasted in chicken fat along with mushrooms, shallots and rosemary. The result is sweet, earthy and savory, a perfect accompaniment to the roasted chicken thighs and drumsticks. And a delicious way to celebrate the changing seasons.
I started the chicken on the stovetop in a sauté pan, ensuring a nice golden brown on the skin and rendering fat to use with the grape mixture. And I roasted said mixture separately in a glass baking dish rather than adding them to the chicken pan; this allowed me to control the amount of fat they roasted in.
Roasted Chicken with Grapes, Mushrooms and Shallots
Serves 4 to 6
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 each bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks and thighs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, divided
12 ounces sliced mushrooms (see Kitchen Notes)
12 ounces seedless grapes—red, black or green
2 good-sized shallots, thickly sliced
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Heat olive oil in a skillet or sauté pan large enough to hold chicken in a single layer over medium-high flame. Season chicken generously on both sides with salt and pepper and place skin side down in the pan. Cook undisturbed until chicken skin is golden brown and slightly crisp, 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer chicken to a plate. Pour chicken drippings in pan into a heat-resistant bowl or measuring cup and reserve. Return chicken to pan, skin side up, sprinkle with half the rosemary and put pan in oven.
In a 9×13-inch glass baking dish, toss mushrooms with 2 to 3 tablespoons of chicken drippings and the rest of the rosemary. Season with salt and pepper and put in the oven.
After 10 minutes, add grapes and shallots to the baking dish, drizzling with additional chicken drippings if the mushrooms have soaked up what was in the dish. Toss to combine and roast an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. A quick-read thermometer should register 165ºF when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh. The grapes may or may not split open as they roast. Either outcome is fine.
Plate chicken on individual plates, spooning grape mixture alongside. Serve.
Kitchen Notes
Mushrooms—how many, what kind? White or crimini mushrooms are both fine for this dish. When I made it, I used just 8 ounces of mushrooms because that’s how they were packaged. We all wanted more mushrooms, so spring for the extra 4 ounces. You’ll be glad you did.
Did you serve anything else? Potatoes or pasta or salad or ?
We did a green salad, Anita. But green beans or some other green vegetable would work. In a completely different direction, some roasted potatoes would be great.
Your chicken looks like perfection, Terry! Better than Martha Stewart. (And I love your dish!)
Terry, I have to tell you how much I totally loved the flavors in this recipe. Coming from AZ, where it’s far too hot to think about roasting, I did tweak the recipe. I used chicken cutlets – the best quality – had to add a bit of olive oil and butter to compensate for the lack of skin fat. Then basically, I followed your guidelines adding a bit of white wine to the final steps in the oven. Fabulous flavors. Super job. Thanks so much for sharing. Will be repeating it as a go-to often.
Dani, we bought that plate on our honeymoon at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, a cool art space in a former munitions plant in Alexandria, Virginia.
Thanks, Barbara! Those sound like excellent tweaks.
Thanks for bringing this recipe to mind again. Will do the same tweaking since it’s 90 degrees, but with grapes in season, what a tremendous homey recipe.
Barbara, we’ve posted so many recipes over the years that I am continually surprised at things I unearth when I delve into the archives. Good luck with the heat!