Braised Chicken and Vegetables

Ingredients

• 4 bone in skin on chicken thighs or 2 quarters

• 1/2 medium onion, small dice

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 cups chicken/vegetable stock or water

• Seasoning of choice like Italian seasoning

• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Vegetables of choice (can be just potatoes, my current favorite below)

• 2 potatoes, 1” dice

• 2 girthy carrots, 1” dice

Process

1. Season both sides of the chicken well with salt and pepper

2. Put a heavy pot over medium low heat

3. Once hot, place the chicken in skin side down until the skin is crispy and a lot of fat has rendered out

   Note: You may need to play with the temperature here, not too hot to burn, but hot enough to render fat. The point here is to build fond on the bottom of the pot, render fat out of the skin and crisp it, not cook the chicken.

4. Remove chicken to a plate, turn heat to medium high and add onions

5. Cook onions until soft, ~3 minutes, then add garlic, salt, pepper, and seasoning stir and cook for additional 30 seconds

   Note: Don’t let the brown bits on the bottom, fond, burn, this is your flavoring.

6. Deglaze with your stock or water, scrapping the fond off the bottom

7. Add the remaining veggies and add more seasoning if necessary, add more stock or water until veggies are barely covered

8. Place chicken on top of veggies, skin side up, so the liquid is about halfway up the side of the chicken, remove or add liquid if necessary

9. bring mixture to a boil, then cover and turn the temp down to allow for a simmer, cook until chicken is done and vegetables are tender, ~1-2hours

   Note: Simmer means you should see a bubble or 2 a second, if it is bubbling too much/too hot, chicken will end up tough and vegetable will be mushy. You can leave the lid ajar to help lower the temp, but might need to add liquid to counteract evaporation

10. Fish out the meat and serve with a loose sauce

Optional Sauce thickening:

1. Pull all the chicken and veggies from the pot

2. Strain the liquid and add it back to the pot

3. Boil and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon, add a tablespoon flour to make it more gravy like and to quicken the thickening

4. Serve sauce/gravy on veggies and chicken

Inspiration:

• ATK Braised Chicken with Mustard

• Babish Braised Short Ribs

• Babish Braised Brisket

• Babish Braised Pot Roast

• Chef John Braised Lamb Shanks

• Chef John Braised Short Ribs

• Sohla Braised Cabbage