Fine Thighs

I don't own a microwave. It's not because I don't like microwaves, or think that they irradiate your food, or feel that some day the microwave is going to combine with the coffee maker and the toaster and create some sort of kitchen appliance robot with stick blender hands that will slice me into pieces and go on to terrorize the neighborhood. The microwave is the brains. Take away the brains, and you just have a regular robot... Wait. Sorry. I don't really know where that came from. I don't have a microwave because I don't have the counter space. I'm working on getting an over the stove one mounted to the wall. This requires a cabinet, so, I'm working on getting one of those too. My kitchen is kind of a work in progress.

Now, on to the meat of this post. When you don't have a microwave, you have to plan two days in advance when you want to have some frozen chicken thawed out to cook. This gives you two days to think about what you're going to do with those delicious thighs. Yep, thighs. A word that never looks like it's spelled correctly. And, by far, the most delicious part of the chicken. I used to be exclusive to the breast. The boneless, skinless thigh fillet turned me on to good, dark meat* chicken. Now, it's almost all I use. Though today we're talking bone in, skin on, cheapest thing you can get at the grocery store, thighs.

Greek Chicken
Bone in, skin on, thighs -- I used four last night.
Your oven -- set at 400
A lemon
A quantity of dried oregano
Garlic -- powder, or fresh
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Leftover kalamata olives that you forgot about in the back or your fridge. Or not. It's whatever.

Trim those thighs of whatever excess skin and fat you want to remove from them and set them in your finest roasting pan. If you want to put them on a rack in said roasting pan, they'll just cook a little faster, but, won't swim in their own juices. Your choice. I like a rack, but, it works without.

Zest that lemon into a bowl, and then juice that lemon into the same bowl. My lemon wasn't all that juicy, so I added a little rice wine vinegar. Throw in some dried oregano -- probably a tablespoon or so. Maybe a 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder or a couple of cloves minced fine. Add enough olive oil to make this a runny paste, and then smear it all over those fine thighs. On the skin, under the skin, all over. Hit them with some salt and pepper (don't be shy about this) and throw them in your oven.

Last night my thighs took 50 minutes. Yours might take less time. Or possibly more. If you're using boneless, I'd certainly drop the heat, and time. Mine came out golden, with deliciously crispy skin.

Set those thighs on a plate, and drain all those juices into a cup. Strain off the fat, then pour those juices back into the pan, put that pan on a burner, and scrape up all those tasty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let that sauce reduce, and if you have them, throw in some kalamata olives, and a bit of butter. If you don't, don't worry about it. It will still be delicious. Pour the sauce over the chicken, and eat.

Last night my chicken was accompanied by some wild rice from a box, and some sautéed zucchini and yellow squash. It made for a fine meal.

--Brad

*Dark meat chicken isn't nearly as dark as it used to be. Unless you're buying free range. I don't, so my dark meat isn't really all that dark.