Rosemary Chicken with Corn and Sausage Fricassee

This recipe is a Food and Wine recipe, created by Nina Compton from 09-2015. I loved the feature photo, with chicken legs sitting on top of the fricasee, which was a beautiful mixture of sausage, corn, onions, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and basil. This just screamed “light the grill and let’s get cooking!”

I didn’t light the grill to cook the chicken; it was 106 degrees outside on this day. But any way you cook this wonderfully brined and marinated chicken would work, and any cut like thighs would also work.

The fricasee is very good, although maybe an overkill with ingredients. On Milk Street radio once, I heard someone’s quote: “Sometimes cooking isn’t what you put into a recipe, sometimes it’s what you don’t. Or something like that. It might infer a more minimalistic approach to cooking, but with summer-ripe corn and tomatoes, I don’t think you can go wrong by letting them shine!

I also didn’t see the need to include Italian sausage in the fricasee, when the chicken is served alongside. Here’s the original recipe from Food & Wine.

Rosemary Chicken with Corn and Sausage Fricassee

Chicken:
1/2 cup kosher salt
12 chicken drumsticks
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Fricasee:
6 scallions
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise
4 ounces hot Italian sausage, casings removed
3 cups fresh corn kernels (from 4 ears)
2 cups cherry tomatoes (10 ounces), halved
1/4 pound sugar snap peas, halved lengthwise
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
Salt

In a large bowl, whisk the salt with 6 cups of cold water until dissolved. Add the chicken and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Wipe out the bowl.

In the same bowl, whisk the olive oil with the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest and crushed red pepper. Add the chicken and turn to coat, rubbing some of the marinade under the skin. Marinate the chicken at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Grill the chicken over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of each leg registers 165°, about 25 minutes.

In a large cast-iron skillet, cook the scallions over high heat until charred on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a work surface and cut into 1-inch lengths.

In the same skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and a generous pinch of salt and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until nearly cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add the corn and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the corn is crisp-tender and the tomatoes are softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the snap peas and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes longer. Stir in the basil and scallions and season with salt.

Transfer the fricassee to a platter, top with the chicken and serve.

I added more cayenne pepper flakes to the drumsticks, and the fricasee needed more salt.

Overall, this dish was very good, although some ingredients, I felt, were unnecessary. It’s definitely a good time to enjoy now, with the warm weather still, and the tomatoes, corn, and fresh herbs.

About the Author: Chef Mimi

As a self-taught home cook, with many years in the culinary profession, I am passionate about all things food-related. Especially eating!

55 Comments

  1. angiesrecipes August 31, 2022 at 6:37 AM - Reply

    That looks like a perfect late summer dinner for me. Love both the colour and flavour.

    • Chef Mimi August 31, 2022 at 7:52 AM - Reply

      Flavors were great – like a celebration of summer.

  2. 2pots2cook August 31, 2022 at 6:49 AM - Reply

    Beautiful and so bursting with flavours!

    • Chef Mimi August 31, 2022 at 7:52 AM - Reply

      Yes! It was a nice, summery combination of flavors!

  3. Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen August 31, 2022 at 7:13 AM - Reply

    Well this is one of the prettiest platters! I can see why you were inspired Mimi. I know my family wouldn’t leave a morsel on the plate!

    • Chef Mimi August 31, 2022 at 7:52 AM - Reply

      It was a really fun recipe. And I love chicken legs!

  4. Alex August 31, 2022 at 8:13 AM - Reply

    A beautiful dish!

    • Chef Mimi August 31, 2022 at 8:20 AM - Reply

      Thank you Alex!

  5. John / Kitchen Riffs August 31, 2022 at 9:53 AM - Reply

    Such a great dish! I think I would have left the sausage out, too. This is a great summer dish! Thanks.

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 8:13 AM - Reply

      It would have been good whole alongside the chicken legs!

  6. Jean August 31, 2022 at 10:30 AM - Reply

    I love collecting magazine recipes but am so bad at trying them. This is so festive and beautiful!

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 8:13 AM - Reply

      Thanks, Jean! I love recipes!

  7. David Scott Allen August 31, 2022 at 11:37 AM - Reply

    For me, thighs would be the way to go. For some reason I despise chicken legs. All that work for so little! Also, I’m pretty amazed at the four cloves of garlic in this dish. It seems pretty heavy handed for some of the subtle flavors in this. Your presentation, as always, is stunning! So beautiful.

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:43 AM - Reply

      Well the garlic and rosemary were only in the chicken, and that was really good. Funny about chicken legs! Each to his own. I just think they’re fun, but not so much wings…

      • David Scott Allen September 1, 2022 at 9:27 AM

        OMG — never wings! Or chicken feet. No thank you. You know, I think it’s the tendons in the legs that get to me. And the ski- to-meat ration is not optimal.

      • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:57 AM

        That ratio!!!!! 🤣

  8. Healthy World Cuisine August 31, 2022 at 1:45 PM - Reply

    Love that sear from the cast iron skillet on your legs. The fresh corn and tomato fricassee is perfect for the season. And the crazy thing we have everything on the list to make this recipe today. Love happy accidents like that. Take care

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:42 AM - Reply

      Love it! And seriously the sausages could be cooked whole, like the legs, and left out of the fricasee.

  9. Debra August 31, 2022 at 7:05 PM - Reply

    This is a delicious recipe, Mimi, and unique to me. I can imagine my family being thrilled. I am so eager to enjoy fresh tomatoes and corn for as long as we have summer’s abundance. I always mourn the loss when the season is over. I can’t wait to give this recipe a try. :-)

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:41 AM - Reply

      I don’t quite mourn, although who doesn’t love garden fresh vegetables, but I’m always so ready for cooler temps. And it’s been a hot hot summer.

      • Debra September 2, 2022 at 2:37 PM

        It’s just that I won’t even eat tomatoes the rest of the year. Even buying the hothouse varieties I just find them flavorless. :-(

      • Chef Mimi September 4, 2022 at 9:37 AM

        I do buy cherry tomatoes, but that’s it. And they’re so often mealy as well as tasteless….

  10. sherry August 31, 2022 at 10:15 PM - Reply

    fricassee! a great word to say even if i don’t really know what it is :) The chicken dish sounds tasty.

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:40 AM - Reply

      I’m not sure either! I think it’s a term from Southern cooking!!!

  11. Tandy | Lavender and Lime August 31, 2022 at 11:00 PM - Reply

    I have never tried brining my chicken. Maybe something for when I have time? I think in the summer heat I would have made a salad of the vegetables. It all looks very good.

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:40 AM - Reply

      I didn’t realize you could brine anything in such a short time. But I do know with my turkey brining times that it really does work! I love your salad idea.

  12. Aletta - nowathome August 31, 2022 at 11:54 PM - Reply

    It looks so inviting!

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:39 AM - Reply

      Thank you!

  13. Pauline McNee September 1, 2022 at 6:29 AM - Reply

    I’m just eating your pretty dish with my eyes Mimi, I’m sure it was really delicious. the more colour the better in Summer I say. Very healthy as well. I’m not eating corn now unfortunately, but I’m sure I could substitute something else. Your edible flowers and herbs really bring this dish to the party. Fricassee sounds like a party word too. Thanks for sharing a great recipe.

    • Chef Mimi September 1, 2022 at 7:39 AM - Reply

      Hahahahaha! I never have thought about the word fricasee! It’s kind of a funny word. I’m sorry about corn.

  14. Ann Coleman September 1, 2022 at 9:19 AM - Reply

    That does look like a perfect summer dish! I think I’d use chicken thighs rather than legs (I have a hard time cooking the legs properly, but guess because of the bones) and I’d leave out the spicy sausage so my husband could eat it. (He still can’t handle spicy food.) But I bet it would taste great even without it!

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:57 AM - Reply

      The sausage would have been better grilled whole, if you wanted them included. But I get the thing with chicken legs!

  15. terrie gura September 1, 2022 at 11:22 AM - Reply

    This is a really pretty dish, Mimi!

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:56 AM - Reply

      Thanks, Terrie! It was very tasty.

  16. Velva Knapp September 1, 2022 at 2:28 PM - Reply

    Wow, the dish provides a beautiful presentation. Perfect for late summer. No doubt this is delicious dish.

    Velva

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:56 AM - Reply

      This was definitely a celebration of summer, and very satisfying!

  17. Raymund September 1, 2022 at 5:46 PM - Reply

    Nice one, love the presentation and those chicken are prefectly seared

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:55 AM - Reply

      The chicken legs were my favorite part! Really flavorful.

  18. nancyc September 1, 2022 at 8:34 PM - Reply

    This is such a wonderfully colorful dish—it looks so appetizing! :)

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:55 AM - Reply

      Thanks, Nancy! It was a summer celebration!

  19. neil@neilshealthymeals.com September 2, 2022 at 4:57 AM - Reply

    I think I’ve got a few more outdoor BBQ sessions to go before the weather totally closes in here in Scotland. Love this Mimi!

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:51 AM - Reply

      Oh good! glad you have some more warmer weather where you live to come!

  20. David @ Spiced September 2, 2022 at 6:53 AM - Reply

    106°!? Umph, that’s kinda hot. You probably just could have cooked those chicken legs on the grill without even lighting it. :-) (Just kidding!) Well done on this recipe. I love the flavors, and you’re right that the presentation is spot-on. Love it!

    • Chef Mimi September 2, 2022 at 8:50 AM - Reply

      It’s been an extra hot summer here. Last one was about 16 years ago, with another 68 days above 100 degrees. Thank god it’s not like that every summer, although I can’t personally tell the difference between 85 and 105 in the sun. Well, this is where we live. Hope you enjoy this if you make it!

  21. Hannah September 3, 2022 at 6:54 PM - Reply

    What a stunning dish! All those colors make it look like a painting. That’s definitely edible art.

    • Chef Mimi September 4, 2022 at 9:36 AM - Reply

      Thank you Hannah!

  22. Ron September 4, 2022 at 3:52 AM - Reply

    What a colorful plate you’ve made for us, which also looks scrumptious. What’s not to like about this dish. The fricassee sounds like a meal in itself. We still have some grill time left prior to the snows flying so this has to made…

    • Chef Mimi September 4, 2022 at 9:35 AM - Reply

      The snow will be falling soon? Wow. I guess you’re really way up north. Sounds very holiday, though. Hope you’re feeling well!

  23. StefanGourmet September 5, 2022 at 9:50 AM - Reply

    Hi Mimi, I agree less ingredients is often better. This dish looks amazing. I think brining the chicken for 45 minutes in a very salty brine is a bit risky, as the saltiness is determined by the time. I prefer to use less salt (without water) and allowing to brine overnight.

    • Chef Mimi September 5, 2022 at 2:55 PM - Reply

      I’m really not sure the quick brining did anything, but the chicken legs were my favorite part of this dish!

      • StefanGourmet September 5, 2022 at 2:56 PM

        With that much salt, I’m certain the brining did quite a bit.

  24. Sippitysup September 5, 2022 at 10:47 AM - Reply

    Fricassee is a fun word. Topped with your gorgeous chicken legs makes it even more fun. Gorgeous char. I love cooking hot and fast. Even when it’s hot out. GREG

    • Chef Mimi September 5, 2022 at 2:54 PM - Reply

      I definitely can’t stand standing in the heat cooking, but that’s me. Cooking hot inside is wonderful!

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