Chicken Thighs Surprise
When in the course of human events you find that you have a couple of carrots and some celery stalks loitering in your vegetable crisper, do you have to make soup? I created this dish using what I could find on hand. I call it “Chicken Surprise” because there are apple wedges hidden among the vegetables. The unsuspecting diner may be surprised when he bites into something he thinks is a potato but turns out to be an apple.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbs. butter
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 4 chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat and skin
- 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut in quarters
- 3 or 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ diagonal slices
- 3 celery stalks, cut into 2″ diagonal slices
- 2 apples, peeled, halved and cut into 2″ wedges
- 1 red onion, halved and cut into 2″ wedges
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- salt & freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 cup white wine
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Heat butter and olive oil over medium high heat in a very large saute pan or Dutch oven
- Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides and cook, turning to brown on both sides, about 8 minutes
- Remove chicken to plate and add the rest of the ingredients, except the apples
- Cook, stirring constantly, until the vegetables begin to soften and brown at the edges
- Add the apples and stir well
- Pour vegetable mixture into a baking dish, placing the thighs on top
- Add wine to the pan used to cook the meat and vegetables, turning the heat to high and stirring and scraping up the bits in the pan
- Pour wine mixture over the vegetables and chicken
- Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring the mixture up a couple of times
- If chicken seems done but the vegetables need more time, remove chicken from baking dish and cover it loosely, then cook vegetables until done
