Saffron Lemon Chicken

My awesome co-workers had given me a jar of saffron (super pricey spice), so we made a saffron lemon chicken with it, from Kalyn's Kitchen blog.

The night before:
I decided to try carmelizing a bunch of onions in the crock-pot overnight, and freezing what I didn't need for the recipe for later use.

Slice up ~4-5 lbs. Vidalia onions, put in the crockpot with a stick of butter.  Cook on low overnight.

These smell divine.  They don't have the same texture as pan-carmelized onions, but they are delicious.  And I saved the "broth" to do as-yet-unknown things with.  This was much easier than pan-carmelizing.

For 8 people:
Cut up 4 lbs. chicken breats into maybe 2 in. pieces.  In a large pot that has a lid, heat up olive oil and a touch of butter.  Cook the chicken pieces until just brown on both sides, but not necessarily fully cooked, and remove to a plate if you have to do it in batches.

Meanwhile, heat up 2 pints chicken stock with a couple pinches of saffron threads in it.

When all the chicken is done, put it all back in the pan, cover with however many onions you want, and pour the hot saffron-infused chicken stock over it all.  Bring to a low boil, cover, and simmer at low heat for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, add 1 cup chopped parsley and the juice of 2 large lemons.  Cover and simmer at low heat for another 15 minutes.

Enjoy.

This was really, really good.  I still can't necessarily pinpoint the taste of saffron, but the whole dish had a floral and sweet essence to it.  If you happen to have saffron, recommended.  If you don't happen to have saffron, I think this would be delicious anyway.

Scooter