It’s been a busy week in the kitchen for me.  I’ve experimented with a handful of new recipes that of course, I’ll be sharing in upcoming posts.  I’ve been inspired by three items in my kitchen this week:

1. Sharp knives: We finally got our knives sharpened for the first time in five years.  If you haven’t done this, I highly recommend sharpening knives.  It makes such a difference.  I got ours sharpened at The Cooks’ Warehouse. They sharpen knives every Tuesday and Thursday for $4.50 per knife.  Totally worth it!  The Cooks’ Warehouse also has cooking classes and will be offering a gluten-free cooking class from 7-9pm on November 17^th at their Midtown location.
2. Cast Iron Skillet: We upgraded to the 12 inch skillet this week.  I love our skillet that we’ve had for years, but it’s a little small.  We can never entertain and use the skillet because it’s really only big enough for two.  While at Cooks’ Warehouse we took the plunge and bought the biggest skillet.  After salivating over all the Le Creuset products, it seemed like they were practically giving away the skillets (less than $35)!  Skillets are so versatile, usable on the stove and the oven.  Just this week I’ve used my skillet(s) to make bacon, chickpea flatbread, crusty white beans and kale, as well as part of my preparation for last night’s beef stew.
3. Dutch Oven: The chilly fall weather always leads me back to the Dutch oven.  Yes, that’s a funny name for a kitchen product, but the D.O. (as I like to refer to it) is up there with the skillet as one of my prized possessions in the kitchen.  It’s perfect for soups, braising and stews.  It, too, can go in the oven and on the stovetop.

So now that I’ve told you about my culinary inspirations, you’re probably asking what I was inspired to make in my kitchen this week.  As I mentioned, I love braising but I haven’t done too much braising with chicken; usually I stick to fattier meats like short ribs and pork butt.

I decided to try out my dutch oven with chicken.  One of the things that’s great about braising chicken versus other meats is that the cooking time is not nearly as long as other meats so braising chicken is not an all day production.  I made Sara Foster’s Red Wine-Braised Chicken with Onions and Thyme.  This recipe appealed to me for a couple of reasons.  First, I love red wine and cooking with it.  Also, I had some end of season tomatoes from Cystal Organics Farm that I wanted to use and this recipe calls for tomatoes.  I’m sure  you could use canned tomatoes as a substitute  and the dish would still be delicious.

Red Wine-Braised Chicken with Onions and Thyme

Ingredients:

• 3 ½-4 pounds chicken pieces (You can buy a whole chicken and cut it yourself or you can buy already cut pieces at the store, which I did but you want to make sure they’re bone-in, skin on and leave the skin on.  I used two breasts (which I cut in half as the recipe suggests), two thighs and two drumsticks, which was plenty for four people.
• ¼ cup flour (I used rice flour)
• Leaves from 6 or 7 thyme sprigs, about three tablespoons
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, cored and chopped
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400

Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry with paper towels.  Stir the flour and 2 tablespoons of the thyme together in a shallow bowl.  Dredge the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour, shake off excess flour and season with s&p.

Heat the butter and oil in a large, oven proof skillet on medium high heat until the butter sizzles.  (I used my Dutch oven because I did not yet own my mega-skillet.)  Place the chicken in the skillet skin side down, reduce heat to medium and cook for 6 to 7 minutes per side, turning only once, until skin is golden.  Lower the heat if the chicken seems to be browning too much.  I actually did this in batches so the chicken wouldn’t be too crowded in my DO.  Remove the chicken from the pan and cover it loosely with foil to keep warm.

Add the onion to the pan you cooked the chicken in and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about five minutes.  Add the tomatoes and cook for about three minutes, until the begin to break down.  Add the wine and stock and bring to a boil over high heat, scraping up any brown bits at the bottom of the pan.  Add 1 tablespoon of thyme.  (I would actually add more than that.)  Reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the liquid reduces slightly.

Turn the heat off and return the chicken pieces to the pan with the liquids, putting the chicken in a single layer if possible.  (Mine were overlapping a little and it turned out totally fine.)

Place the skillet (DO) in the oven to cook for 35-40 minutes, spooning juices over the chicken occasionally.  Remove chicken from the oven and serve warm, with the sauce on top.

While this recipe definitely calls for some labor on the front end, it’s really not too much work.  And everything’s finished before your guests arrive, and you know I love that.  There’s even time to get all of the dishes done, except the Dutch oven, in advance (Thank you, David!)

This red-wine braised chicken was a delicious meal on a cool night.  I served it with parmesan mashed sweet potatoes and a salad with fresh radishes, peppers and cucumbers with a homemade vinaigrette.   All of the produce came from The Local Farmstand.  This dish would also be nice with mashed potatoes and green beans too.  A hearty meal that’s not too rich , but leaves everyone satisfied.  Also good for picky eaters!

Don’t be intimidated by the ‘dredging in flour and browning’ component of this meal.  Most braising recipes call for some type of browning and it’s not too hard.  It’s ok if the meat gets a little too brown too.  Word of warning: wear an apron because you might get splattered by olive oil and juices because of the high heat.  Happy Braising!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 8:58 am and is filed under local food, meals, recipe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.