Tonight we broke in one of our first wedding presents, a new Le Creuset enameled cast iron pot! We worked off a Mario Batali recipe for Chicken Thighs with Saffron, Green Olives and Mint, but have tweaked it a bit the past couple of times we've made it. We used just 6 chicken thighs instead of 12 and cut the skin off since, in the past, it has just caused us problems by sticking to the pot and falling off anyway. We seasoned the skinless thighs with salt & pepper, did not dredge in flour as the recipe calls for, and browned in our heavy-bottomed pot.
Once the thighs were browned we transferred them to a plate, leaving all those glorious brown bits on the bottom of the pot. We added 1 red onion, thinly sliced, to the pot and let the water cooking off of the onions deglaze the pot.
Once the onions had softened a bit, we added about a cup of white wine to aid in the deglazing process. We then added the olives and carrots, cooked a bit and added our own homemade chicken stock. This was brought to a boil and the browned chicken thighs were added back into the pot. Since there seemed to be a little too much liquid we boiled it down just a bit before covering the pot and placing in a 250 degree oven for about an hour to hour and half. When the chicken came out of the oven we stirred in a handful of fresh, chopped mint. The chicken was served over cous-cous, with a side of broccoli sauteed with garlic and finished with Balsamic Vinegar.
Braising on a week night means a late meal, but this is so tasty and makes great left-overs for lunch!
2 comments:
never underestimate the power of real stock.
hi kate,
sure am proud of your good cook'n
love, linda
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