Fricken Chickasea
My Kitchen garden is doing just amazing at this point in early Summer, it's chock full of aromatics that encourage use if only for the sake of keeping it trimmed down and neat and not a raging savage sea of wonderous smelling chaos. So every night is an adventure in using old and new blends to transport my dinners over the top.
Last night was a trek up onto the summit of mt Thyme
Last night was blazing hot with a choking layer of Norcal fire smoke, which made me not feel like driving to the store and I found in my freezer that I had a bunch of bone-in chicken thighs, some lovely bulbous Yukon gold taters in the dark of the pantry and happily had something I could get rolling and then ignore for an hour (too hot in the house and certainly in the kitchen) out on the deck at sunset with a glass of wine.
An easy choice was a long braise in my always ample and ready stock reserves*.
*hence the bone-in chicken. not only do I like the way it aligns the roasted flavor of the bone to the flesh, but it supplies me with a constantly stocked fridge with, er, stock.
So a braise in mirepoix, stock and wine, and some of my Irish mashed potatoes was a happy choice - though via lacking some ingredients, this batch of mashed was more like an Irishman on holiday in Tuscany. More on that later.
Before I could hit the deck couch with un bicchiere di vino, there were some procedures to prep and follow.
The chicken was given a dusting of salt, pepper, garlic powder and Spanish paprika and left to contemplate its inner life for an hour or so while I put my meeces in places.
And so it begins.
First step: roll the chickens thighs in the flour to evenly coat and shake off the excess flour (that excess will encourage burning during the browning and give off a harsh taste). Bad juju.
Then into a deep dutch oven hot as Hell with around 2 tbls and a glob of neutral oil for browning. 5 mins or so a side to a nice golden torching.
When evenly browned on all sides, out comes the chicken to rest a while and in goes a half a cup of white wine for fonding* with the dark chunky fragrant sauce retained in an aluminum bowl.
*My favorite word!
Two more tbls of oil and turned down to med-hot, in goes the mirepoix with a shake of cumin and a light cloud of black pepper. Stirred and cooked until the onions glaze to near transparency. Then I toss in 4 sliced garlic cloves and a healthy amount of lightly chopped thyme and oregano. I also pour in a glug or two of dry, dry sherry at this phase.
Maybe a minute, more or less until the fragrance fills the kitchen, you don't want to burn your thyme and oregano.
Then in goes the reserved fond, the chicken packed into a tight bunch, skin side up (my dutch oven is big enough for 8, ymmv*)
*Your mileage may vary
Lastly, I add the stock, 3 or so cups - with the stock up to the chicken's neck, not drowning the poor bird.
Then raise the heat and cover*. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. It's wine time on the deck!!
*or place in an oven at 450 for ten mins, then lower to 350. Last night was too damned hot to think about lighting the oven at chez Bilzo.
let it simmer for 40 minutes while you sip a crisp Chardonnay and comment on the merits of the evening's sunset.
But, but there's more.....
At the twenty minute mark get back to work and place those Yukon golds into a pot of salted water along with 6 lightly chopped garlic cloves.
when they're softened but not soggy (about 12 mins) drain into a colander and then plop it all back into the pot. Add sour cream and 2-3 tbls of butter, about three tbls of roughly chopped thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Add some garlic powder to taste also if you like your mash really garlicy like we do. Mash the bejesus out of it to the desired texture. I like chunky, Patty likes smooth so in this household we opt for smooth. Add more sour cream to adjust the texture.
Now normally I don't use thyme I use chives, but I was out of chives. The thyme turned out to be a monumental eye-opening substitution. Just lovely and it WILL happen again. Something about the way it blurred with the sour creme was just an unexpected miracle. That's what I love most about cooking and am constantly trying to be flexible enough to let them happen; unexpected miracles.
Taters ready, back to the final steps with the chicken.
At the 40 minute mark, it's basically done and the heat gets turned off and the thighs removed and set aside momentarily. The "soup" of mirepoix and stock is allowed to sit for about five minutes while the fat rises, then is skimmed off the top with a large spoon. At this point, I whisk in about 2-3 tbls of cornstarch to thicken up slightly the sauce to an almost gravy-esque glomp of goodness.
This accomplished back goes the chicken and up goes the heat for another 5 to ten minutes.
voila, you've got Fricken Chickesea. ladle some of that sauce over your mountain of mashed potatoes and enjoy......
An added bonus on this warm Summer evening. Patty harvested some wild plums from the edge of the property and made ice cream YAY!!
Last night was a trek up onto the summit of mt Thyme
Last night was blazing hot with a choking layer of Norcal fire smoke, which made me not feel like driving to the store and I found in my freezer that I had a bunch of bone-in chicken thighs, some lovely bulbous Yukon gold taters in the dark of the pantry and happily had something I could get rolling and then ignore for an hour (too hot in the house and certainly in the kitchen) out on the deck at sunset with a glass of wine.
An easy choice was a long braise in my always ample and ready stock reserves*.
*hence the bone-in chicken. not only do I like the way it aligns the roasted flavor of the bone to the flesh, but it supplies me with a constantly stocked fridge with, er, stock.
So a braise in mirepoix, stock and wine, and some of my Irish mashed potatoes was a happy choice - though via lacking some ingredients, this batch of mashed was more like an Irishman on holiday in Tuscany. More on that later.
Before I could hit the deck couch with un bicchiere di vino, there were some procedures to prep and follow.
The chicken was given a dusting of salt, pepper, garlic powder and Spanish paprika and left to contemplate its inner life for an hour or so while I put my meeces in places.
- A bowl of paprika infused flour for dredging.
- A simple mirepoix was chopped: sweet onion, fresh celery, and carrot
- a few fistfuls of Thyme and Oregano snipped from the garden wall.
- A quart of chicken stock brought out to come up to room temp.
And so it begins.
First step: roll the chickens thighs in the flour to evenly coat and shake off the excess flour (that excess will encourage burning during the browning and give off a harsh taste). Bad juju.
Then into a deep dutch oven hot as Hell with around 2 tbls and a glob of neutral oil for browning. 5 mins or so a side to a nice golden torching.
When evenly browned on all sides, out comes the chicken to rest a while and in goes a half a cup of white wine for fonding* with the dark chunky fragrant sauce retained in an aluminum bowl.
*My favorite word!
Two more tbls of oil and turned down to med-hot, in goes the mirepoix with a shake of cumin and a light cloud of black pepper. Stirred and cooked until the onions glaze to near transparency. Then I toss in 4 sliced garlic cloves and a healthy amount of lightly chopped thyme and oregano. I also pour in a glug or two of dry, dry sherry at this phase.
Maybe a minute, more or less until the fragrance fills the kitchen, you don't want to burn your thyme and oregano.
Then in goes the reserved fond, the chicken packed into a tight bunch, skin side up (my dutch oven is big enough for 8, ymmv*)
*Your mileage may vary
Lastly, I add the stock, 3 or so cups - with the stock up to the chicken's neck, not drowning the poor bird.
Then raise the heat and cover*. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. It's wine time on the deck!!
*or place in an oven at 450 for ten mins, then lower to 350. Last night was too damned hot to think about lighting the oven at chez Bilzo.
let it simmer for 40 minutes while you sip a crisp Chardonnay and comment on the merits of the evening's sunset.
But, but there's more.....
At the twenty minute mark get back to work and place those Yukon golds into a pot of salted water along with 6 lightly chopped garlic cloves.
when they're softened but not soggy (about 12 mins) drain into a colander and then plop it all back into the pot. Add sour cream and 2-3 tbls of butter, about three tbls of roughly chopped thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Add some garlic powder to taste also if you like your mash really garlicy like we do. Mash the bejesus out of it to the desired texture. I like chunky, Patty likes smooth so in this household we opt for smooth. Add more sour cream to adjust the texture.
Now normally I don't use thyme I use chives, but I was out of chives. The thyme turned out to be a monumental eye-opening substitution. Just lovely and it WILL happen again. Something about the way it blurred with the sour creme was just an unexpected miracle. That's what I love most about cooking and am constantly trying to be flexible enough to let them happen; unexpected miracles.
Taters ready, back to the final steps with the chicken.
At the 40 minute mark, it's basically done and the heat gets turned off and the thighs removed and set aside momentarily. The "soup" of mirepoix and stock is allowed to sit for about five minutes while the fat rises, then is skimmed off the top with a large spoon. At this point, I whisk in about 2-3 tbls of cornstarch to thicken up slightly the sauce to an almost gravy-esque glomp of goodness.
This accomplished back goes the chicken and up goes the heat for another 5 to ten minutes.
voila, you've got Fricken Chickesea. ladle some of that sauce over your mountain of mashed potatoes and enjoy......
An added bonus on this warm Summer evening. Patty harvested some wild plums from the edge of the property and made ice cream YAY!!
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