Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Black Bean Tapenade (GK)

Marinated Chicken

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 orange, sliced
• 4 or 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with the back of a knife
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, toasted
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 pounds chicken thighs with skin (about 8), bone-in

Bring all the ingredients and 6 cups of water to a boil.  Then brine the thighs overnight.

Draining a bit on paper towels.

Sauce

• 2 tablespoon blended oil(half vegetable, half olive oil) [Just now realizing that the recipe called for the same two lines in the list of ingredients for 1 tablespoon blended oil.  In its second use in my execution, I said "Screw it.  I'm just using olive oil."]
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons butter

Mise en place.

Browned chicken.

Browning the onion and garlic.

I realize here that I messed up by omitting the step of reducing the white wine (or in my current case, dry vermouth).  I brought it and the chicken to a boil in the same sauce pan.

Pour the liquid and aromatics all over the chicken, cover tightly with foil and braise in the oven for 2 hours at 275 degrees F.

Crisping the skin.

Reducing the strained liquid until it coats the back of a spoon.  Then enrich the sauce with butter.

Black Bean Tapenade

• 1/2 cup nicoise olives, pitted and roughly chopped [JP's Whole Foods didn't have any and I wasn't willing to make another trip for this dish before cooking it since I had delayed enough.]
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fermented black beans
• 1 tablespoon chiffonade [Basically one rolls up broad-leafed herbs and cut super-thin ribbons of them.] of fresh mint
• 1/2 teaspoon sambal
• 1/2 teaspoon honey

None of these things are prepped.  I figured I would have enough time considering two hours of braising to do the prep during that period of time.

The dish was really damn good.  True perfection the night I cooked it.  Very moist, flavorful, rich.  Nice to see a sauce get so silky with the addition of butter.
I was worried about prepping a side (I rarely make side dishes), but the posole I made recently didn't stand on it own and proved an interesting complement.

Camarones Enchipotlados (Chipotle Shrimp)

from the Rick Bayless iPad app:
recipe to follow as per Joe A's request

• 1 15-ounce can diced canned tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted), drained OR 1 pound (about 2 medium-large round or 4 or 5 plum) ripe tomatoes, roasted and peeled [They didn't have fire-roasted tomatoes at Stop and Shop, so I broiled some cheapo tomatoes since the techniques really concentrates their flavors anyway]
  
• 2 or 3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo
• 1 tablespoon chipotle canning sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• About 1 1/2 cups fish or chicken broth or water [Somehow didn't really occur to me to boil the shrimp shells from prepping the dish and making a broth from that. Silly Judy.]
  
• Salt
• 1 to 1/4 pounds medium-large shrimp (21 to 25 shrimp per pound), peeled and deveined, tail left on if you wish
• About 1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

1. Puree the tomatoes and chiles. Pour the drained tomatoes into a blender or food processor. Add the chipotle chiles and chipotle canning sauce and process until smooth.
2. Sautee the garlic. In a very large (12-inch) skillet, heat the oil over medium. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant and golden, about 1 minute.
3. Cook down the base for the sauce. Pour the tomato mixture into the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes as the pureee thickens and the flavors meld.
4. Finish the sauce. Add enough broth or water to achieve a light tomato sauce consistency. Taste and season highly with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon.
5. Cook the shrimp. Add the shrimp to the pan. Cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the shirmp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in a little more broth or water if the sauce has thickened too much. Scoop onto dinner plates and sprinkle with cilantro leaves.

Tomatoes on my trusty quarter-sheet cake pan.
Which will soon get a couple workouts for its intended purpose this month. Blog entry on Apple Cake (MMB) quite soon.


About 15 minutes under the broiler. It would have probably been easier to core the tomatoes when they were raw, but... Next time.


The peeled shrimps and their shells. I read somewhere that leaving the tails on promotes better cooking of the shrimp.
Should've used those shells to make stock for the broth but I just threw them out.


Blended sauce.


Sauteing garlic for the Nth time.


Cooking down the sauce a bit to concentrate the flavors.


Thinning out the resulting mixture with boxed chicken broth and cooking the shrimp.


Mmm, quite good and simple to put it off. I will definitely cook it again.
Joe A. was there and the recipe struck him as simple enough that he would want to cook the dish. When asked if he could help, I had him pick off the cilantro leaves.
However, I realize that every time I use fresh herbs I should practice chiffonading them.