RCP: Fall-off-the-bone Roasted Chicken Thighs

I recently found this recipe in the Toronto Star and tried it yesterday. It's fabulous - one of the tastiest recipes I've ever made. What's really nice is that it produces a wonderfully rich and creamy sauce for the chicken that has no butter or cream in it (although it probably has some chicken fat from the thighs), just a simple reduction. My wife took one bite and said "that's a keeper!"

This is the version I made. It's a little different from the original, which is here: http://www.thestar.com/living/food/recipes/article/1013146--new-release-fall-off-the-bone-roasted-chicken-thighs. I served it with braised carrots and squished baby potatoes (http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=39854), accompanied by a 1997 Hugel Jubilee Gewurztraminer from Alsace.

Note that the author says that she would normally use fresh herbs, but that in this recipe dried herbs are preferred, since they stick to the thighs better. The recipe is from Cristina Ferrare’s Big Bowl of Love: Delight Family and Friends With More Than 150 Simple, Fabulous Recipes.

Fall-off-the-bone Roasted Chicken Thighs

Serves 2

4 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
3-4 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice (from one small lemon)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp each, dried parsley, chives, chervil and tarragon
1 tsp fennel seeds
optional salt to taste (I didn't use any and found it was salty enough already)
cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup rich chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the thighs, skin-side up, in a small baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, lemon juice and olive oil. Pour over the thighs and turn to coat well, leaving them skin-side up. Sprinkle over the dried herbs and fennel seed. Season to taste with salt and pepper (I didn't need any salt). Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove the foil and baste with the juices in the baking dish. Mix in the chicken stock and bake uncovered for another hour.

Carefully remove the thighs (they're fall-off-the-bone, remember ), keep them warm, and boil down the pan juices until they are the consistency of thick cream. Plate the thighs and pour over the reduced juices.

Sounds good. I copied it to my recipe files. I would imagine the one could also use whole leg quarters., which I often find on sale for $.49/lb.

I copied it too. Sounds like a tasty supper for us.

I copied it too. Sounds like a tasty supper for us.

As did I, Ted doesn't post often, but when he posts a recipe, it is usually a keeper!

[Jenise]

Wow, I had to look up Cristina Ferrare to see if she was who I thought, and indeed it is. She was a model who hit it big back in the 70's in the wildly successful Virginia Slim ad campaign. Though her hair is now lighter in color, then it was nearly black and she was just about the only non-blonde among the models used. Kind of like Farrah Fawcett, something about her look captivated and she became rather famous and started running around with a high end crowd. She married John DeLorean, he of the stainless steel gull-winged car, and was still married to him when he got arrested and thrown in the hoosegow for good, which ended the marriage. She later married a television network exec I was marginally acquainted with. Apparently she now has a cooking show on the Oprah Network, none of which I knew and none of which has anything to do with her recipe--didn't mean to hijack the thread--just interesting factoids.

Thanks Ted
We had this for dinner last night and it was delicious, we think it is a keeper too.
Simple and with readily available ingredients in the house (even the holiday house where we are at the moment) just slight alterations due to dried herbs
available in the pantry. I used thighs and drumsticks.
Added to the data base for future use. Thanks again
Barb

I had this for dinner last night, and will make it again. I actually had dried chervil, and tarragon on hand along with the rest of the ingredients. The only deviation I made was to use mushroom soy (first time for me) and that won't be the last either. I used leg quarters instead of thighs due to the fact that they are less than half the cost. I am not sure which ingredient was responsible but I thought the dish had a cinnamon like aroma and there was a bit of sweetness in the flavor, so maybe it was the mushroom soy.

I made this a couple weeks ago and considered it only so-so. It reminded me of chicken marbella, but without the hint of sweetness from the brown sugar and prunes. I like the marbella better. But, I do like the fine herb combination rather than just the oregano in the marbella, so I will make that alternate to see wehther marraige of the two makes something spectacular.