crispy chicken

I have been on a lazy hiatus for the last couple of months, but I promise, I am back.  Jim is redoing the deck, so the grill is stuck in the garage.  Which inspired me last night to make a chicken dish that will be great in the upcoming fall months.  It is not a particularly fast dish, but it is VERY low maintenance.

I use bone-in skin-on chicken thighs for this, and the trick to very crispy skin is blessedly easy.  Simply heat a non-stick skillet over medium low heat, and place your chicken thighs skin down.  Then walk away.  Yes, just walk away.   The dish calls for lots of shallots and whole garlic cloves, so you can peel those now.   Many grocery stores carry shallots and garlic that are all ready peeled.  If you decide to take advantage of that, go practice your yoga for half an hour.  The nice thing about this dish, is that it adapts to several different vegetables.  Shown above, it is made with whole shallots, garlic cloves, and little yellow dutch potatoes, but you could substitute fennel, chunks of winter squash,or parsnips for the potatoes.  I use a whole head of garlic (about ten cloves), and about four potatoes and four shallots per person.  I love the little yellow dutch potatoes.  They hold their shape well, and they are very creamy.  But don't hesitate to substitute what you have on hand -- little new potatoes, fingerlings, or just a chunked up baking potato.

After about 30 minutes, wander back into the kitchen, and check to see if your chicken skin is nice and crisp.  If you want to reduce the fat in the dish, you can remove the thighs from the pan and pour off the excess.  Return the thighs to the pan, still skin side down, and toss in the shallots, garlic, and what ever root veg you are using.  Add a sprig of rosemary and a little salt and pepper.  If you don't have fresh rosemary, a couple of big pinches of dried is fine.  Wander away again, and contemplate how easy it would be to grow a rosemary plant in the corner of the yard or a pot on the patio.  In about 15 minutes, go turn your chicken skin side up, add a couple of cups of chicken broth, and move the heat up to medium high.  Leave the pan uncovered, and go read a few pages of a good novel.  If you are using a packaged chicken broth with a high sodium content, be careful about how much salt you add to the dish.

After about 20 minutes, take a peak in the pan.  You are looking for all that broth to reduce to a glaze -- a sort of sticky, syrupy goodness that will coat the root vegetables in a natural sauce.  When you have that, spoon your veggies onto a plate along with the sauce.  I like, then, to put the chicken back in the pan, skin side down, and cook it over a medium high heat for just a few minutes, ensuring skin as crisp as a perfect piece of bacon.  If you take this extra step, the glaze left in the pan will concentrate on the crisp skin for an added punch of flavor.

Serve with a crisp green salad and enjoy the soft golden garlic cloves smeared on a chewy slice of french bread.  Yum!