Chicken Thighs with Moroccan Olives & Orange

I… I… olive you!

Another tray of chicken thighs to add to your arsenal as we still seem to find ourselves in the middle of the winter and I swear, turning on the oven is an act of love during these cold nights. And, might I add, another dinner where the only clean-up is a cutting board, knife, and the baking tray they’re cooked in. Not bad, not bad. Throw a handful of arugula under these and call it good.

So, is it inappropriate to think about why a dish like this so easily works against diet culture? Like, it’s just food, right? There doesn’t have to be anything more to it aside from its taste and perhaps ease in the kitchen, and yet, here we are, we’re going there. When the meal is about combination, and synergy, and addition, and about leaving you able to go about your day without worrying about the intricacies or logging how many times you’ve chewed this bite for the most pure and digestible swallow of your life–well, I think this is when we’re taking care of ourselves.

Brain games for one, please. Nah! For the whole table, instead!

Why keep talking about the emotions of food? The labels we often enough assign haphazardly, in the hopes that this time, something will click, or this time, our bodies will relax into a new routine, or this time, just like we’ve been lead to believe–the template will lead the way towards our ultimate goals.

…Right?

What if instead of allowing a new protocol to decide if you’re fixed or worthy of change, we… we wear our templates like hats?

I know.

Lucia… a hat metaphor? Have you been well? Do you need a nap? Maybe, maybe… but listen.

What if our challenges, templates, protocols, schedules, etc., were used along the same principles as to why we wear a good hat? To keep us warm, to keep us safe, to protect a vulnerable part of ourselves from wind, cold, the damp, maybe some grit. And just like a hat, when we no longer need it, we don’t pull our hats down even further, right? What do we do with a hat we don’t need? We take it off, hang it up (ahem, or throw it on the floor, whatever), and know it’s there when we’ll need it again. Are we mad when we need that hat again later? Are we defeated by our inability to never need hats? Do we reprimand ourselves for the pure utility of a hat to do its job when we’re wearing it on our noggin? Or can we appreciate the hat for what it does, and create a relationship with that hat that becomes second nature, where we no longer feel fatigue and indecision about the shoulds and shouldn’ts that surround wearing a hat.

Our culture places so much pride onto white-knuckling through experiences, and that if you just hold on one more second, one more day, then you will find your health right on the other side of the experience, and THAT, then, way over there, is when we can make a new decision. But wait. What an actual bummer of an experience, you know? That there’s been no gusto or support for the mere act of recognizing when an additional tool is both needed and then no longer needed.

It’s funny, trying to talk about the grey area of wellness culture. Like, here’s a recipe with plenty of labels on it that people can use in order to find it, and yet, none of those labels need to apply if they tick the wrong box for someone. At the end of the day, it’s about happy, calm food, right? It’s about flavors that help us salivate naturally, that bring a smile to our faces, that support deep belly breaths so we have the energy and emotional wherewithal to fuel ourselves into patterns and experiences we resonate with.

So… why are you wearing a certain nutritional protocol? Is it doing its job for you right now? Is it assisting you? Or are you trying to wear it so hard and so good that your head is just kinda all scratchy, sweaty and you can’t see where the heck you’re going from under its low brim?

Food for thought. Or, food for fashion. Because also hats look neat.

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Chicken Thighs with Moroccan Olives & Orange

Course Main Course

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Lucia Hawley

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken thighs bone-in and skin on (about 4-6 thighs typically)
• 1 orange sliced in half
• 1 medium onion peeled, cut in half and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/3 cup Moroccan cured olives or olives of your choice, green olives also work well here, cut in half, pits removed if not already pitted
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric listen, if you were very lovely, you would actually use a small bit of saffron instead.
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In your baking tray (9x13 is good, ceramic or glass is great), add the juice from 1/2 an orange (reserve the other half for now), and the olive oil through the dry spices and salt above. Whisk to combine.
3. Add in the onion wedges, halved olives and garlic cloves.
4. Slice the remaining half an orange, then add the orange slices into the pan, too.
5. Toss the chicken thighs in the marinade, coating with the spices evenly all over. Place the chicken thighs skin-side up on top of the onion, orange and olive mixture. Allow to marinate up to 12 hours/overnight if you desire--or, it's time to cook now!
6. When ready, place the baking tray into the oven and bake the chicken thighs for 60 minutes.
7. Allow to cool, then serve!