Chicken thighs are the workhorse for the weekday dinner – they are very versatile, easy to cook, easily available and they are less per pound. My husband does not love them however (he hates chicken on the bone no matter how tender it is) so we generally eat them when he travels. I leave the skin on because I love animal fat (not bragging). These will take any seasoning you have and come out great. The basic recipe for these are take out a 9 x 13 glass dish, oil the bottom and sides, lay out your seasoned thighs, and cook for 45 minutes at 350. Test your meat temperature of course – and remember it’s not unusual for meat close to the bone to be slightly pink. Put them in the oven and start your sides and they will all be ready at the same time.
One of my favorite ways to cook chicken is to smother it in some type of sweet preserve or jam. Fruit actually goes really well with poultry – yes it does! I almost always cook turkey with several oranges in the cavity, lemon/garlic/white wine is perfect with chicken breasts, even grapes can be delicious with chicken!
I had an open jar of the preserves (I use it with our charcuterie boards often) so finished it off with some dried onion seasonings and a herb salt blend added on top of the preserves. Here is a tip – once you rub the spoon on the raw chicken and then stick it back into the jar of preserves you have fully committed to using it for this recipe. Take my word for it – this stuff happens! Don’t beat yourself up! Just laugh and make it work for you.
NOTE: There has been an urban legend about Bonne Maman for years about the family hiding Jewish children in France from the Nazis. I did a little googling and found this:
Bonne Maman, founded in 1971 by members of the Gervoson family, is based in Biars-sur-Cère, a town in southern France. Neither the town nor any of its inhabitants are listed on the registry of “righteous gentiles” — non-Jews who rescued Jews from the Holocaust — that is maintained by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum.
Nor is anyone with the name of the company’s founding families in the database, which is comprehensive and thoroughly researched but does not necessarily include every possible person who might be eligible for it.It’s a super nice story and I think most people want to believe it to be true so I will too. Life is too short.
