A New Chicken Dish
As you know, I watch cooking shows on PBS sometimes. The other day, I watched a "Cook's Country" episode that involved chicken dishes. Two things in particular interested me, technique-wise. So on Tuesday I bought some chicken thighs (bone in, with skin) at the story--they come in either tiny packages or huge ones so I bought a huge one, to experiment with. Tuesday night, browned the chicken thighs not in a frying pay but in the oval enameled cast iron cooker...and lo, it worked. This afternoon I has something else in mind, a combination of chicken, tomatoes, chili, onions, celery, carrots, and sweet peppers, with a sauce thickened with toasted flour (second technique demonstrated.)
There were seven chicken thighs, and a seasoned them (salt, pepper, Italian herb mix) then browned them top and bottom in the cast iron cooker. Took them out, drained off most of the fat, put in a thinly sliced onion, several ribs of diced celery and celery leaves, a diced carrot (not a fine dice, BTW--I like a larger one.) And stirred over lower heat until the onions were soft. Then added a 28 oz can of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes & green chilis, about half a quart of homemade chicken stock, several gluggles of white wine (who measures???) Put the chicken thighs back in, added enough water to almost cover, added diced red, yellow, and green sweet peppers, and simmered until the chicken was done. Toasted some flour (probably 1 1/2 cups) under the broiler, watching closely and turning it, then mixed some of the broth into the toasted flour, stirring vigorously with a whisk to make a thick slurry, and added that to the pot with chicken. It worked, and thickened it just enough.
We ate 3 thighs and quite a bit of the vegetables & sauce. It made a very tasty one-pot dinner, with ample leftovers for tomorrow's lunch and supper. I had never thought of toasting the flour used to thicken a sauce or roux, but it worked perfectly.
There were seven chicken thighs, and a seasoned them (salt, pepper, Italian herb mix) then browned them top and bottom in the cast iron cooker. Took them out, drained off most of the fat, put in a thinly sliced onion, several ribs of diced celery and celery leaves, a diced carrot (not a fine dice, BTW--I like a larger one.) And stirred over lower heat until the onions were soft. Then added a 28 oz can of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes & green chilis, about half a quart of homemade chicken stock, several gluggles of white wine (who measures???) Put the chicken thighs back in, added enough water to almost cover, added diced red, yellow, and green sweet peppers, and simmered until the chicken was done. Toasted some flour (probably 1 1/2 cups) under the broiler, watching closely and turning it, then mixed some of the broth into the toasted flour, stirring vigorously with a whisk to make a thick slurry, and added that to the pot with chicken. It worked, and thickened it just enough.
We ate 3 thighs and quite a bit of the vegetables & sauce. It made a very tasty one-pot dinner, with ample leftovers for tomorrow's lunch and supper. I had never thought of toasting the flour used to thicken a sauce or roux, but it worked perfectly.