If you ask someone what their favorite part of the chicken is I bet they say a breast, thigh, wing, or leg. BUT THEY ARE LYING!!!!
Most people enjoy the skin the most they just don't want to think about it. Why do we love on the bone fried chicken? Cause its a piece of chicken with the skin dolled up with flour and fried! Good roast chicken? Cause its been cooked til the skin is crispy and melted its fatty flavor into the meat. Same thing goes for the perfect bird at Thanksgiving no matter if he is fried, roasted, or smoked.
Two recipes I love to make that utilize the fatty, skin covered, dark meat of my all-so-loved chicken quarter!
Roast Chicken, Peachy-Keen and Black Bean
Chop half an onion, a few cloves of garlic, and half a really ripe peach and add it in to a olive oil rubbed baking dish lined with foil or a ceramic dish like my treasured Le Creuset bakeware. Black beans cook up wonderfully but they back on and stick horribly.
Add in a whole can of black beans and a 1/3 cup of chicken broth. Rub your chicken thigh down with EVOO, salt, pepper, thyme, and a little cayenne if you want some heat.
I never time how long to bake things since I rarely make things exactly the same every time. I also use what ever cut of meat I have on hand and that can make things tricky. I have a cheap (yet reliable ) meat thermometer that I trust. I cook this dish til the chicken skin is thin and crispy and juices run clear.
The flavor the chicken gives the black beans is wonderful! I had this with a favorite Oklahoma Red Wheat beer!
If you wanted to make this a dish for two just throw another quarter in there and make a light side. There is enough black beans for two people.
Butter-Nut-Squish Your Chicken!
I love butternut squash! In the grocery store they are seriously expensive but worth it. At a farmers market I usually get them for less than .75 cents a pound which is dollars below the super markets. BETTER yet sometimes my dad will grow them then I get all I want!
Butternuts can be hard and slippery and a pain in the @$$ to peel but there is an 'easy' way that works pretty well.
Use a veggie peeler to peel the whole thing then cut it in half seperating the long part from the ball part at the end. Then cut those pieces in half the long way. Use a spoon to scrape the seeds out of the ball part just like you would a pumpkin on Halloween.
Cube your entire butternut, quarter a medium onion, and put on an oiled, RIMED, pan or cookie sheet with a chicken quarter or two. The bigger and more chicken the more flavor.
Bake at 375-400 depending on if you have a hot oven or if you like to play with it alot. If you're patient 375 should work just fine. If you're like me ... turn it to 400 and check on it and stir at least once.
Butternut roasted with chicken is wonderful by itself with no help but it can also be turned into a wonderful soup just as easy.
SOUP
You can chop your onions or pull them out if you don't like big chunks. But i like big chunks! Some squash might look burnt and the onions might look a little fried but with so much fat and carbs they are really just caramelized into wonderful food!
Wait til your chicken cools til you can handle it. Then, pull the meat and put it in a pot with the squash and onions.
Add chicken broth and squish your squash until its the right consistency of soup you like. If you like traditional butternut squash soup, put the whole lot in a blender and add broth til a desired consistency appears. I LIKE IT CHUNKY!!! This soup is wonderful just like it is BUT for a tastebud shocker or to really impress people add a half a tsp of cumin and a squeeze of lime and its a whole different ball game. Just as wonderful though.
