The recipes you request most often are those that are well-balanced, flavorful, and can be prepared both in advance or in varying amounts with easy-to-procure ingredients. This dish lends itself to make-ahead cooking. Since it roasts in one baking dish, you can assemble it and let it hang out in the fridge all day or overnight. When you are ready to eat, just pop it into the oven for a quick no-brainer, hands-off meal that only requires one pan to wash.
This recipe is also very versatile. Change the greens to kale, spinach, or even chopped cabbage. If you want crispier potatoes, roast those first or separately. Serve with a side of farro or wheat berries if you want more carbs. Use different cuts of chicken, but make sure they are bone-in and skin-on pieces, please. To make the dish creamy, add heavy cream when there are about 6 to 10 minutes of roasting time left. Assemble one, two, four or even 10 portions to suit your needs.
If you try making it, let us know in the comments how you personalized it and what you think!
Mustardy Chicken Thighs with Braised Rainbow Chard and Roasted Potato Medallions
yeild: 4 servings
This sauce is so good, you might just eat it with a spoon. Perhaps you want to make extra?
What You Need:
For the Mustard sauce:
¼ cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon, about 1 ½ tablespoons
¾ teaspoon dried parsley
¾ teaspoon dried sage
¾ teaspoon dried rosemary
¾ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon honey
For the chicken:
1½ - 2 pounds bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs, about 4 pieces
Kosher salt
1 bunch rainbow chard or Swiss chard
1 pound fingerling potatoes
freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Variation: Instead of putting it all into one casserole, portion this into individual portions and roast throughout the week. Chicken will keep in the fridge until a couple of days past its sell-by date.
What You Do:
Sprinkle kosher salt liberally on both sides of the chicken pieces. Set aside and allow to sit uncovered while you make the sauce and prep the vegetables.
Bring about 10 cups of water to a boil. Prepare an ice bath. Separate the chard stems from the leaves. Set aside the leaves. Slice the stems into ½-inch lengths.
Once it is boiling, salt the water and add the chard stems. After about 15 seconds, add the leaves. After another 45 seconds, transfer the stems and the leaves to the prepared ice bath. Drain.
Slice the fingerling potatoes into ⅓-inch thick medallions. Put the sliced potatoes in a 9x13-inch rectangular or oval casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few pinches of kosher salt and cracked pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.
Add the drained chard to the casserole dish.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients.
Pat the chicken dry and season with more salt and pepper. Rub the mustard sauce on both sides of the chicken. Nestle the thighs among the potatoes and chard. Cover tightly and refrigerate until later or the next day.
Preheat the oven to roast at 375 degrees F. Uncover the casserole and let it stand at room temperature until the oven is preheated.
Roast for 45 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and start to crisp on the edges and the chicken is cooked through (a thermometer inserted near the bone should reach 165 degrees).
