Good morning dear cooking enthusiasts,
I realize that is is probably a bad decision to start my first real post about cooking and have it be about chicken, but you know what, oh well. It was a really good dish that I made up on the fly. Sometimes I cook straight from recipes, sometimes I cook a variation of that same recipe. I think I have the most fun in the kitchen when I make something that doesn't come right out of a book. Which is exactly what I did on Sunday night.
I love when I can use what is in my freezer ( granted, it's not a huge freezer, I do live in a condo) but you would be amazed at the stuff that I squirrel away in it. Anyway, I had some skin on chicken thighs left over from a chicken picatta gratin recipe that I had made a few weeks ago, and I stumbled on 5 lonely chicken thighs in a ziploc and decided I needed to do something with them.
Since it was a Sunday night, I felt the need for something a little "roast-y" if you know what I mean. But, for me, my deal breaker about chicken is that if the skin is left on, it must be crispy and browned. It's the only way to go.
I heated about 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Let me explain why I used vegetable oil. As a life long lover/believer in extra virgin olive oil (first cold press from Greece is just about the only thing I will use), it is sometimes hard to bring out that unromantic wesson oil bottle. But, my dears, every thing has it's place in the kitchen. Vegetable oil allows you to come to a very high heat with out scorching the oil, where olive oil does not. Yes, you could do the chicken in olive oil, but this is one of the rare occasions that I will say reach for the wesson.
I seasoned the skin side of my chicken breasts with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and a touch of poultry seasoning. Once the oil began to ripple and slightly smoke, I put the chicken skin side down in the pan and let the magic happen. It's a good idea to put a splatter screen over the pan to avoid a mess (and 2nd degree burns) because this chicken is going to POP like a son of a gun. Once the skin has browned nicely, ( about 4 minutes) flip it over for an additional 2 minutes.
I mentioned earlier that I wanted a "roast-y" feel since it was Sunday, so here is my variation on that.
I took some carrots, celery, onion, and whole fresh cloves of garlic and scattered them around the bottom of my baking dish. I cut the carrots, celery and onion into julienne strips so they would cook faster. ( Since my chicken had a head start on cooking in the skillet). Then I added about a cup of chicken stock to the veggies and placed the chicken, skin side up on top of the veggies, covered with foil, and baked for 35 minutes. I took the foil off after 35 minutes and let it cook for an additional 10 minutes to absorb some of the moisture. I wish I had taken a picture, because this is such a pretty dish. The brown chicken skin standing on top of a bed of celery, onions, carrots and garlic was really nice to look at it. And it tasted even better.
All of that chicken-y goodness got sealed in when I browned the chicken. Then, by cooking it over the veggies and chicken stock, it sealed in a lot of flavor.
I served with some mashed potatoes, ( another Sunday night comfort food) steamed broccoli with fresh lemon and pepper, and a simple tomato salad.
It was a simple meal, but sometimes, simple meals are the best.
Well, there won't be much cooking going on in my house tonight due to scheduling conflicts, but I already have an idea for Wednesday night and I think you are going to like it.
Cheers and happy cooking,
Rosie
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