This delicious Signora da Vinci roast chicken recipe comes from a book many of you may have read — Robin Maxwell’s 2009 novel, Signora Da Vinci. It was a beautiful story about the life of Leonardo da Vinci’s mother, Caterina, as the author imagined it to have been. Reading the book, I truly felt immersed in daily life during the Renaissance. I am pretty happy I didn’t live during that time, especially as an outspoken woman, but it was fun hanging out with the most famous Renaissance masters for a couple of weeks while reading the book!
One of our favorite recipes came from this story …
I loved the story, and one of the lasting memories of the book is a delicious recipe that the author included in the novel. The recipe, created by her friend Susan Jeter, is a compote made with just five simple ingredients: red grapes, Kalamata olives, thyme, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. We’ve always used it as a condiment to top cheese spreads, but over the holidays, I had the idea to bake chicken thighs in the compote and it was fabulously delicious! We really couldn’t get enough of the delightful flavor combination of sweet and salty. We served the chicken thighs with basmati rice, so we could sop up all of the sauce. I loved this recipe so much thatI’ve made it twice since the holidays!
A Luxurious Contrast – a balance of tangy fruit and salty olives
Succulent, savory, and subtly sweet, these chicken thighs are cooked to perfection and paired with a rich red grape and Kalamata olive compote. The crispy, golden-brown skin gives way to tender, juicy meat infused with the deep, salty notes of olives and the natural sweetness of roasted grapes. The compote, a balance of caramelized fruit and tangy olives, creates a luxurious contrast—sweet, salty, and slightly tart all at once. Each bite is a perfect harmony of bold Mediterranean flavors, making this dish both comforting and elegantly complex.
We usually count on 1-2 chicken thighs per person for this recipe, depending upon the size of the thighs. You can also use bone-in skin-on, or boneless skinless thighs for this recipe. We normally use bone-in, skin-on, so we can nicely brown the chicken before baking it in the oven along with the compote. You can also use chicken breasts if you prefer, but just adjust the baking time accordingly.
Signora da Vinci Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken Thighs
- 6 chicken thighs (can be bone-in, skin-on, or boneless & skinless – just account for more cooking time with bone-in.)
- 3 tbsp. olive oil (or avocado oil)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
Red Grape & Kalamata Compote
- 1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes, cut in half
- 1 1/2 cups Kalamata olives, pitted and cut in half
- 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried thyme)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.Toss all of the compote ingredients together in a small bowl. Pour into an oiled or sprayed 2 ½-quart casserole dish. Place in the oven for about 25 minutes to start baking while you brown the chicken.
- Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Brown chicken over medium high heat, until browned on both sides.
- Remove chicken from skillet and add to the casserole dish with the compote, keeping the skin side up. Spoon some of the compote over the top of the chicken.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked completely through. (The baking time with vary depending upon whether you use bone-in or boneless, chicken thighs or chicken breasts.)
- Increase oven temp to 425℉ for the last 10 minutes of cooking to create a beautifully brown skin on the chicken.
- Serve chicken with rice and spoon compote over both, being sure to get lots of olives and grapes on each serving.
