Chicken Thighs and Mustard Greens

If chicken thighs aren’t in your weekly rotation yet, they should be! They’re so hard to mess up, I have left them in the oven a little too long many times (due to child related distractions) and they are still come out juicy on the inside with a crispy skin on the outside. The secret to their magicalness is the layer of fat that basically bastes the chicken while it cooks, and the bone helps give it a deeper flavor throughout the chicken. Don’t be shy when seasoning them with salt, but do make sure it’s kosher salt. I use Diamond kosher salt, so it’s not as salty as other salts, which is why I season them pretty generously. If you use Morton’s it’s slightly saltier so you won’t need to be as generous. Get to know the salt you use by tasting and experimenting by adding more or less when you cook. You will be amazed what a difference you’ll taste just by tasting and adding salt while you cook.

But anyway..this is a recipe you can throw together pretty quickly, and only requires you to slice the spring onion (or shallot), the rest of the prep is easy and therefore I tend to make this a lot especially if my kids are cranky and I don’t have an extra hand to help. So please enjoy and feel free to add your own spin on this recipe, using different herbs or adding some spices to the chicken, whatever your heart desires.

Recipe by: Tierney Larson

Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:

5-Bone-in skin-on Chicken Thighs, patted dry and out of the fridge for a half an hour- an hour

Kosher Salt and Pepper

2 garlic cloves-skin on

1 lemon halved and seeds removed

a few sprigs of thyme

a few sprigs of fresh oregano

1 spring onion (or shallot) cleaned, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds

1 bunch of Mustard Greens rinsed, trimmed, and torn into bite size-ish pieces

splash of sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)

Preheat your oven with a cast-iron skillet inside on the middle rack, to 450F. Season your chicken on both sides with kosher salt and pepper. When the oven is preheated, place the chicken skin side down in the skillet along with the lemon (cut side down), garlic cloves, thyme and oregano. Roast until chicken thighs register 175 in the thickest thigh you have.

When the chicken is done, remove and place on a plate that will collect any juices as it rests. Also remove and discard the thyme and oregano. Squeeze the lemon halves using tongs into the skillet (keep all that delicious chicken fat that has rendered. Press the garlic cloves into the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon and remove the skins.

Add the spring onion and a pinch of salt and sauté over medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes until softened. (add a splash of olive oil if the pan seems dry) Add the mustard greens in 2 batches, along with some kosher salt and pepper, letting them wilt a little before adding the next batch.

Stir and toss in the pan coating them in the chicken fat and onions, add 2 tbl of water and let them braise a little in the pan until tender. Add a splash of sherry vinegar and taste for seasoning. Add more salt or vinegar if necessary. Pour any juices that have collected from the chicken into the pan. Serve the chicken over the greens. Bon appétit!