Provencal roast chicken and artichokes under a black olive tapenade

This is the same honest roast chicken you already trust, given the weight and warmth of southern France, a good brine, real herbs, good olive oil. It tastes like care, not like a chore.

The tapenade is the lesson worth keeping. Olives, capers, fresh herbs, and a generous pour of olive oil pulse into a paste the cooks of Provence call the butter of the region, and it does the work butter would do in another kitchen, fat, salt, depth, without any dairy or nightshade sauce. Chicken is a source of selenium and the B vitamins involved in energy metabolism, and the olives and olive oil bring the kind of fat that helps you actually feel fed.

There is a whole bird at the center of this dish, cut into pieces. Honor that. Save the neck and the back in the freezer for your next pot of broth, so the animal feeds you twice.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
• 2 cans artichoke hearts, drained
• a few sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

For the tapenade:

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 1/3 cup capers
• 2 tablespoons fennel-free Provencal herb blend (see note)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

A note on the herbs: the source calls for herbes de Provence. Most commercial blends include fennel seed, which is a seed-spice held out during AIP elimination. Build your own fennel-free version from dried rosemary, thyme, savory, marjoram, oregano, and a little lavender, or buy a blend whose label shows no fennel, anise, or other seeds. The dish is just as Provencal without it.

Method

Heat the oven to 350 F.

Make the tapenade first. Put the olives, capers, herb blend, salt, and olive oil in a food processor and pulse to a coarse puree. You want texture, not a smooth paste.

Oil a large baking dish. Arrange the chicken pieces and the drained artichoke hearts in a single layer and season with the sea salt. Spread the tapenade over the chicken and tuck the rosemary sprigs around the pieces.

Bake for about 1 hour, basting once or twice with the pan juices, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin has color. Serve warm with a simple green salad.

Air fryer variation

For chicken parts, the air fryer crisps the skin faster than the oven. Toss the pieces with the tapenade, lay them in the basket without crowding, and cook at 360 F for roughly 22 to 28 minutes, turning halfway, until cooked through. Roast the artichokes in a separate batch or finish them in the oven. Treat the time as a starting point and check doneness with a thermometer, since baskets and bird sizes vary (untested estimate, verify).

*Adapted from a-squirrel-in-the-kitchen*