Chicken & Artichokes

I made this for dinner tonight after buying some chicken breasts on the cheap at my least favourite grocery in the world, Kroger. It’s easy and pretty fast.

Chicken & Artichokes
Source: Cuisine At Home, issue 38, April 2003

Ingredients:

.25c Olive Oil
.25c Lemon Juice (bottled or fresh)
2T Honey
2t Garlic, finely minced or pressed
1t Dried Thyme (or 2t fresh)
.25t Salt
.25t Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
1 13.25oz can Artichoke Hearts, drained and halved (or 1 package of thawed Artichoke Heart halves, thawed)
1 Lemon, thinly sliced
1 package Orzo, cooked according to the manufacturer’s directions

1. Combine the first seven ingredients in a small bowl, whisking well to combine; set aside.
2. Heat 2T of olive oil in a large skillet.
3. Season chicken well with salt and pepper, then cook in hot skillet, about 5 minutes per side on high heat.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and cover; cook an additional five minutes.
5. Add the artichoke halves and the olive oil mixture.
6. Cook an additional three to five minutes; cook until the liquid has reduced one-third.
7. Top with sliced lemon; return to high heat; cook until sauce has thickened.
7. Serve over cooked orzo.

Suggestions: Slice a small yellow or white onion into moons and sweat it in some butter. Add the onions to the chicken during step 4. Also, I would definitely use fresh thyme if I had it handy. Dried thyme doesn’t have quite the same flavour profile as fresh. If using fresh, double the amount. Dried herbs pack more leaves into a teaspoon than fresh.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Chèvre, Rosemary and Garlic

It was a test. I didn’t know how it would turn out, but I figured it couldn’t be terrible. My wife had purchased some bone-in, skin-on thighs for me at Costco, and I had one left over. The chicken was done up in several packs, with three thighs per pack. The first two I just pan seared, chopped and ate over rice with a bit of soy sauce and shichimi togarishi. But that third…what to do? And then it struck me: why not put chèvre under the skin and pan fry the little beggar? And so I did just that. I minced some rosemary and smashed it into a bit of the chèvre, and then rubbed that on the thigh under the skin. It’s a great way to introduce flavour to chicken, because whatever you put there stays there, and it’s protected by the skin. About four minutes on a side and I had beautifully crisp skin which hid a luscious cheesy surprise. It’s a minimal investment of time and money with a huge payoff.

The next night I got another pack of thighs out and I’ve made the cheese/rosemary mixture again. This time I added a single (small) clove of garlic, finely minced. Heaven! So here’s the “recipe” for Roasted Chicken Thighs with Chèvre, Rosemary and Garlic.

4 Chicken Thighs
2-3oz plain Chèvre, softened
2 tsp fresh Rosemary, minced fine
1 sm clove Garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, combine the last four ingredients. Mash well with a fork to combine.

Slide your (washed) fingers under the skin of the thighs to make a sort of pocket there, and smear a bit of your cheese mixture. Repeat with the other thighs. Set aside to rest for a few minutes. This can be done well in advance, even the day before. Season the thighs with salt and pepper just before cooking.

Heat your oven to 375°F. Sear the thighs skin side down in a hot pan, then flip and transfer pan to the oven for about ten minutes or to desired doneness. Allow to rest for five minutes, then serve.

Notes: you could add a bit of lemon peel to the cheese mixture if you like. Anything added should be minced as finely as possible, except for the garlic, which will become more potent the more finely it’s minced. Although if you LIKE strong garlic, be my guest. You could also substitute breasts for thighs here, but whatever you do, do NOT remove the skin. You don’t have to eat it, but it’s here to protect the cheese. And really, there’s no harm in eating a nice, crispy piece of chicken skin. Most of the fat gets rendered out in the cooking process anyway. You can encourage this by scoring the skin. Just be sure to not pierce the skin.

More recently I have taken to roasting the thighs from start to finish in the oven, doing six at a time. You should start them skin-side down and then flip them after ten minutes. Cook for at least another ten to fifteen minutes and then pull and rest the thighs before serving.

Michael Pollan speaks at Google on In Defense of Food

This video is about an hour long but is the most interesting thing I’ve seen in a while. You may have heard of Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. His message can be boiled down to this: Eat food. Not too much; mostly plants. The things he says in this address resonate with me. I’ve been thinking a lot about my diet and how and when and what I eat. I’ve resolved to try to buy ingredients when I go to the store, and not loads of processed shite. Pollan discusses this and has a fairly simple rule for shopping: stick to the perimeter of the store. That’s where all the perishable goods are, and these are what we need to eat more of. He also says to eat only foods your great-grandmother would recognise as food. Anything else is probably an “edible food-like substance”. Chuckle and grin but he’s RIGHT. He seems to be an advocate of the local food movement, as well as organics. I’m not convinced these are anything other than fads. I’ve yet to see any real science to suggest that organic food is easier on the environment or more nutritious, but then I don’t really keep up with these things. I wouldn’t care much anyway, because I buy food that tastes good. Local food is fine when we’re talking about produce, but I don’t care if my meat is local. I can’t get excited about it.

This was a worthwhile investment of my time. I’m going to have to track down the books – there are yearlong wait lists at the libraries here so I might have to buckle and buy them. Meanwhile, enjoy the video. It’s entertaining and really very interesting. It’s also behind the cut.