Saturday, February 27, 2010

Pan-Seared Chicken Thighs with Shallot and Carrots

Chicken thighs are my student budget's best friend. The first time I bought them, I did a double-take of the price because I thought it was a misprint.  One pound of thighs were a full seven dollars cheaper than breasts. Either my grocery store is engaged in a full-blown chicken scam, or breasts are highly overrated in our society-- and I'm not just talkin' about chicken here.

But that's a different story for a different time... and quite possibly for a different blog. 

 In addition to being way affordable, chicken thighs are just plain good. If you've always been a breast buyer, well, let me introduce you to the dark side. The dark meat side, that is.  
(Insert Beethoven's 5th Symphony: "Dun, dun, dun, DUUUUN!) 

Dark meat is incredibly juicy and delicious. It's pretty difficult to overcook, much unlike chicken breasts that get stringy and grody, dude. Pan-roasting the thighs gives them a crispy coating and tender inside. This recipe also gets bonus points since you throw the veggies right in the same skillet. There's less dishes to wash, so you can get back to that essay on Constitutional Interpretation you've been dying to finish. Right? Right? 

Pan-Roasted Chicken Thighs with Shallot and Carrots      Serves: 1
1 bone-in, skin-on chicken thigh
Salt
Pepper
1 T. all-purpose flour
1 shallot, halved and thinly sliced
1 small red potato, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
1.) Season chicken with salt and pepper, then sprinkle both sides with flour.
2.) Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium-low. Place chicken, skin side down, in skillet, and cook (without turning) until skin is browned, 8 to 10 minutes.
3.) Flip chicken over and push to one side of the skillet. Add shallot, potato, and carrots to other side of skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing veggies occasionally, until chicken is opaque throughout and vegetables are tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with parsley.

adapted from: Everyday Food

4 comments:

  1. Agreed. Breasts are overrated. I used to prefer white meat as a kid but then again I also used to eat Spaghetti-O's and SnoBalls. Nice one "pot" recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice recipe. I love thighs for alot of recipes too, specially those Chinese take out recipes and soups.
    Your grocery is so high, are you shopping at whole foods, or something like that?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nope...I think it's because I live in the city, so meat prices are pretty high.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wish I could find that NY Times article a few weeks ago about chicken breasts. Apparently, chicken breasts were popular in the 60s, because the bird was small and moved around more. Chefs today prefer cooking with chicken thighs, because the breast doesn't have flavor. Either way, your recipe looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete