Let's begin. Firstly, I will acquiesce that yes, there are a zillion ways to cook chicken. There are even more ways to cook boneless, skinless, chicken thighs. *I* cook chicken thighs a thousand ways. I usually use thighs with both skin and bone BUT I have been known to divert and go both skinless and boneless. This is one of my quickie 'go to' versions.
It's stove-top but you can easily shove it in the oven if you don't want to look at it. Looking at it is really the only involvement you have after the initial cook so that's why I keep it on the stove-top, so I feel involved and as though I'm doing something :) Love food that deals with itself. That being said, let's cook it.
My easy Chicken thighs, stove-top version
A pack of chicken thighs, I found boneless skinless thighs on sale for $2.99 for 8, seriously you can't beat that.
Salt
pepper
flour
whatever herbs or spices you like (I use thyme and sometimes sage)
plain oil
chicken stock (or water, Truly, don't not make this for want of stock)
Quickie instructions;
Season, flour and fry thighs in batches. Drain out most of the oil and fill pan half way with stock, bring to a boil. Scrape up any stuck bits, that's the flavor there baby. Return chicken to pan, lower heat, cover and simmer till cooked, up to 45 minutes, you can't really overcook this and the longer is better because the chicken just gets more tender
I serve with mashed potatoes and something orange or something green
EAT
LONG version with the photographs and play by play instructions
I don't like to wash dishes, yes I have a dishwasher, that doesn't matter, I like few dishes. SO, to that end, I marinate, season and prep all of my meat in my sink. Yes, I wash it. Yes, I disinfect it. Yes, I hear you telling me not to but I am going to anyway. So, now we have that out of the way, let's cook this.
Take thighs and put the in your clean sink, season liberally and sprinkle, also liberally, with flour.
Let them fry, on a pretty high flame until they are crispy and beautifully brown. Do not touch them till you're going to flip them,
When the batches are done, put them on brown paper to drain a bit.
Drain off most of the fat left but leave the bits! Long live the bits!! Add some stock to the pan and bring to a boil, scrape your bits! Bring it to a hard boil and return the chicken to the pan. Turn the pan to low, cover it and leave it to simmer and do lovely happy things. I leave it a healthy 30-40 minutes. The chicken just gets more tender and succulent. Use the time to make veggies or have a glass of wine, that's my go-to.
IF you can't cope with a pan on the stove, toss it in a low oven for 45 minutes or so.
When it's done, it looks like this, lovely and soft and juicy and unctuous. All the right food words, all the right flavors. You can cut it, for samples, with a spoon! I live for samples, you can probably imagine. It's pretty important to sample. You will want to sample this, over and over. Truly. It's so gloriously pure in it's chicken flavor.
I don't give any excuse or explanation to not adding onions or other flavors here. This is meant to be easy and delicious and it is. It tastes more like chicken than most of the chicken dishes you make, I promise you.
Now, when it's done and you want to eat, you can take the lid off and let the sauce reduce a bit, you can take the chicken out and add a little cream and nutmeg to make it richer (that's what I am about to do) or you can simply serve it up and eat it.
I will post update pics later today but I wanted to get the basics down for you in case you have chicken thighs in your fridge, or freezer and realize you have to have this for dinner.
I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think...
/tracy
