Tuesday 15 December 2015

Chicken Thighs – Bone In Skin On

Carole's Chatter: chicken thigns - bone in skin on


I have seen TV chefs raving about how much better chicken is cooked on the bone and with skin on, so when I saw a reasonably priced pack of free range chicken thighs I snapped it up to see if I agreed.  I think they have a point.

As usual I used a bunch of other ingredients I had on hand – the idea being to balance saltiness, sweetness, sourness and heat:

Leftover pomegranate juice
Brown sugar
Brandy
Fish sauce (for saltiness)
Mixed fresh herbs (bay and thyme mostly)
1 red chilli
Garlic oil/ olive oil
Butter
Salt & Pepper

To make this beautiful golden succulent chicken thighs, first I patted each thigh dry with paper towels (I don't believe in washing chicken because I think that just splashes germs about the kitchen).  I then oiled each thigh with a mix of garlic oil and olive oil and popped them onto a bed of the fresh herbs. I kept back a couple of sprigs of thyme for garnish.

Then I added the other ingredients (except the butter) into the roasting dish – making sure that the liquid ones were poured around the meat rather than on top of it.  I put the chilli in in hunks (after keeping a couple of daintier pieces for garnish).

The last thing to go on was the brown sugar – I put a dessertspoonful on top of each thigh – I think this is what resulted in such a nice colour.

I had heated the oven up to quite hot and then turned it down when I put the chicken in.  After about half an hour I popped a knob of butter on the top of each thigh and then gave it another 15 minutes and then took the chicken out to rest while my better half cooked up some asparagus.

I did brush some of the liquid over the meat a couple of times during the cook.

While the chicken was resting I boiled the liquid in the tray to reduce it a bit and then used it as a sauce.  I was lazy and didn't pour off the fat first so I served it in one of those jugs that pour from the bottom so that the fat stays at the top.

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