Canal House Style Chicken Thighs with Lemon

Canal House Style Chicken Thighs with Lemon

Good Yard Bird
The kitchen can be the world’s best reality check. The outcome of your endeavors is not always guaranteed—no matter how good a cook you think you are—and for that reason, it is best to always check one’s ego at the door (and keep your instant-read thermometer handy). Just when you think you can totally take on an Iron Chef, karma has its nasty way with you. I need only to look back a couple of weeks to the epic fail that was my attempt to make Pearly Rice Balls with Red Bean Paste in them. Instead of producing lovely round rice balls, I managed to make a gelatinous, shapeless glob that looked like scary fried eggs.

And yet, sometimes (cue the choir of angels), you make something so tasty, so utterly divine that your obvious talent just can’t be denied. (Move over Thomas Keller! I laugh at you and your Michelin stars!) Last night was one of those nights…

To be fair, my genius had some help this time around. (OK. Yes. Most of the time I need help.) Mine came in the form of the book Genius Recipes by Food52 by way of The Canal House. This cookbook has been getting a lot of buzz lately and for very good reason. It is the bomb-diggity. It really is genius. It is also the cookbook we are using for our next cookbook club.

Looking at my copy right now I have at least twenty recipes that I have flagged to try. One of them is Canal House Style Chicken Thighs with Lemon which is what I made for dinner last night à chez moi. My husband told me it was the best chicken I have ever made. I’ve made a lot of chicken, which means either this recipe is just that good or I need to go back to school. Full disclosure, I used preserved lemons. made by a friend, who also happens to be in our cookbook club. It’s possible that they were the secret ingredient because man, they were good.

Do yourselves a favor, go get this book. Or, you can follow along on their blog as Kristin Miglore cooks her way through the book.

And look-y there. The BEST EVER CHICKEN is front and center….

Canal House Style Chicken Thighs with Lemon
Recipe adapted from Food 52
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Rind from half of a preserved lemon, finely chopped
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions
Pour the olive oil into a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, and add them to the skillet, skin side down. Cook the thighs without moving them, until the fat has rendered out and the skin is deep golden brown and crisp, 15 to 30 minutes. If the skin begins to burn before it gets evenly golden brown, reduce the heat to medium-low.

Turn the thighs over and stir the preserved lemon rind into the fat in the skillet. Continue cooking the thighs until the meat closest to the bone is cooked through, about 15 minutes more.

Serve the thighs and lemon flavored pan drippings with the lemon wedges.

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