Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken

This dish — great Tex-Mex for chicken lovers — came into my life as an ancient Craig Claiborne recipe my mom clipped from The New York Times Magazine around 1970. Claiborne called the dish Rosa de la Garza's Texas Chicken (without an explanation of where he got it). It quickly made it into my mom’s regular rotation. One night my grandparents came to dinner, and Rosa de la Garza’s Texas Chicken was the last thing my grandpa ate; he died of heart failure the next morning. My mom, who wasn’t exactly a sentimental sort, changed the name of this dish in his honor: After that it was known as The Chicken that Killed Grandpa.

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Over the years, I’ve tweaked the dish; for the original, you didn't brown the chicken, deglaze the pan or use cilantro. Its origin remains a mystery, though I have spent some hours trying to unearth in. Hopefully one day I’ll find out who Rosa de la Garza was.  

It's easy to put together and makes a festive (and mighty colorful and delicious) one-dish dinner or main course. You can use a whole cut-up chicken instead of only whole legs; if you do, brown all the pieces at the same time, but don't add the breasts until the legs have been cooking 15 minutes. You can also mix other summer squash in with the zucchini, or use only green zucchini — or calabacitas (which look like striated zucchini that are bulbous on one end). Swap ground coriander and cumin for the crushed seeds if you're in a rush.

One thing that may surprise you: When you pile the chicken and all the vegetables in the pan, you cover it, and that's it – you don't add liquid. The vegetables and tomato will take care of that for you, making plenty of lovely sauce on their own.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

2 pounds yellow and green zucchini

6 whole chicken legs (drumstick and thigh attached), or 12 drumsticks or 12 thighs

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper