A cozy one-pot chicken for a fuss-free holiday

By Melissa Clark, The New York Times

The Yiddish word tsimmes, or tzimmes, means to make a big fuss over something. It’s also the name of an Ashkenazi dish of sweet potatoes, carrots, dried fruit and sometimes flanken or brisket, traditionally served at Jewish holidays.

You’d think, with a name like tsimmes, it must be a fussy dish, needing chopping, peeling and praying over to get right.

But the tsimmes I grew up with were simple vegetable side dishes, a pretty mix of orange-hued roots dotted with dark prunes and glistening with honey, baked until plush and velvety. Sure, there was some peeling and chopping, but next to frying latkes, pinching kreplach and rolling matzo balls, a pan of tsimmes was the one fuss-free part of the holiday preparation.

With that ease in mind, I created this tsimmes as a convenient holiday showpiece. Since Hanukkah is approaching, I wanted a one-pot dish that was festive enough for a holiday meal, yet...