French-style Chicken thighs..

I’d bought some lovely corn-fed chicken thighs during the week, and had no idea what to do with them until I found this recipe on line. I also just happened to have spring onions, bacon, little gem lettuces and crème fraiche in the fridge – weird I know, but true – so this little recipe just fell together..

My Chicken thighs had their skin on, but for ease of use, I’d recommend that you buy skinless and boneless. Life’s too short to spend 30 minutes of your Sunday afternoon skinning and de-boning chicken thighs!

This is a very simple, elegant, French-style recipe which will work well on a weekday if you replace the chicken thighs with skinless Chicken breasts.

Allons y!

EQUIPMENT:

• A large, deep frying pan, with a lid.
• A Jug, for the stock

                                                           

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS: For 4

• 6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Bunch of Spring onions, roughly chopped
• A teaspoon of dried or a tablespoon of fresh Thyme
• 200ml hot chicken stock
• 250g frozen peas
• 1 Little Gem lettuce, roughly shredded
• 2 tblsp crème fraiche
• A teaspoon or so of fresh lemon juice.

METHOD:

• Dry fry bacon on a medium-high heat until crisp.                                                                                       
• Remove the bacon. Leave the bacon fat. Drain the bacon on kitchen paper
• Add the chicken to the pan, and brown both sides.
• Slide the chicken to one side of the pan, then add the garlic and spring onions.
• Cook until the onions go bright green – about 3-4 minutes
• Combine with the chicken
• Add the Thyme
• Add the hot stock. Mix in. Reduce the heat until everything’s just simmering.
• Half-cover, and simmer  for 15 mins until chicken is cooked (check it and see – if it’s not all done, give it a few minutes more and check again) and a good bit of the liquid has evaporated.

• Increase heat
• Add the cooked bacon.                                                 
• Tip in peas and lettuce.

• Cook until the peas are tender and the lettuce is wilted – about 5 minutes.
• Add Crème fraiche and a tiny splash of lemon juice, and mix in,  just before serving.

NOTES:

• Try adding some white wine to the stock instead of all water.
• The original recipe didn’t say to let the stock reduce, so I found the sauce rather watery when I first made it, hence my plan to half-cover the pan while the chicken is cooking.
• Don’t let the idea of adding lettuce to this dish put you off – I was a little unsure myself when I first made this recipe, but it wilts down beautifully, and has a lovely sweet flavour. Take a leaf out of my book – as if you needed to! – and don’t bother mentioning the lettuce until after you’ve collected the emptied plates 😉 !
• Serve with Crush-hot potatoes https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/crushed-hot-potatoes/or Potato Gratinhttps://eatingforireland.com/recipe/my-easy-peasy-potato-gratin-or-to-give-it-its-official-title-scalloped-cream-potatoes-with-rosemary-and-garlic/ – I had left-over mashed potatoes today, so I made traditional Irish Potato cakes. https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/my-mothers-potato-cakes/
• I also think that some really nice flatbread would be great with this, to mop up the juices.