Braised Chicken Thighs

Photo: Carla

Ingredients

8 Chicken Thighs (Bone in, skin on)

1 pound Mushrooms

4 ounces Butter

8 oz Balsamic Vinegar

15 cloves Garlic (Blanched)

16 ounces Chicken Stock

1 bag Baby Spinach

Preparation

Start by searing the chicken over medium-high heat, skin side down in a heavy bottom sautée pan, and then flip it over when the skin becomes a beautiful golden brown.

The crispy skin is 80% of our motivation to eat chicken in the first place and is the secret to any great chicken dish.

Once the chicken skin is nice and crispy, remove it from the pan and set aside.

Place chopped mushrooms in the bottom of the pan with a nice large pat of butter.

The moisture from the mushrooms and the butter will help to “deglaze” the pan, loosening all the little chicken bits stuck to the bottom.

Cook the mushrooms and butter, seasoning with a little sea salt, until they start to soften and brown.

Once the moisture from the butter and mushrooms has almost evaporated, finish the deglazing process by adding some good balsamic vinegar, enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

Reduce balsamic by half.

Once the balsamic vinegar has reduced by half, add in the blanched garlic. Now, you might think that this is garlic overload, but its not.

If you blanch the garlic first, it will soften and become extremely mild, making your dish permeate garlic without it’s harsh, pungent taste.

Stir the mushrooms, garlic and balsamic together until all the ingredients get a chance to know each other.

Add in enough chicken stock to cover the thighs by 3/4's of the way up, leaving only the skin exposed.

Once you have all the chicken thighs submerged in the braising liquid, bring it to a simmer on your stove top and then place into a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the thighs.

When the thighs have braised for about an hour, pull them out of the oven and remove the chicken thighs from the pan, setting them aside on a clean plate for later.

Place the sautee pan back on your stove top over medium-high heat and allow the braising liquid to reduce until it becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

When your sauce has reduced down to the proper consistency, add in a couple handfuls of fresh spinach and stir until it wilts.

If your chicken has cooled off too much, add them back into the pan briefly to bring them back up to temperature.

Finish the dish by placing two chicken thighs per person on a plate over freshly steamed rice.

Spoon the spinach, mushroom and garlic sauce over the chicken.