Roast chicken with olive and vanilla sauce

Name: Roast chicken with olive and vanilla sauce
Prep time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Ingredients: ½ cup kosher salt (or ¼ cup regular salt), plus more to taste; ½ cup mint leaves; 1 cup plain yogurt; ½ cup any stock, or a little more; 1 teaspoon coriander; 1 teaspoon cardamom; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1 cup pitted black olives, such as Kalamata or Niçoise, finely chopped or pureed; 3 vanilla beans; Freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 4 tablespoons butter; 5 sprigs thyme; 1 head garlic, cut in half; One 3-pound chicken; ¼ cup sugar

Preparation info

Makes
4
servings

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
2 hr

Appears in

Simple to Spectacular

By Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman

Published 2000

About

This olive and vanilla sauce is dense, rich, and exotic. The yogurt-cucumber sauce, which takes just a couple of minutes to make, coolly offsets it in flavor, color, and temperature. A winning combination—and the vanilla-roasted chicken is pretty special too.

Ingredients

½ cup kosher salt (or ¼ cup regular salt), plus more to taste
¼ cup

Main course
Gluten-free

Method

Combine the ½ cup salt and the sugar in a large container with 4 cups cold water and stir to dissolve. Add the chicken and soak for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature (if the weather is hot,