A whole chicken, part 6

We're getting close to finishing up the chicken, and tonight is dem thighs, man. I went a little different with this one, and accidentally gave it a little Indian flair.

By the way, if you haven't read the rest of this series:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

My veggies for tonight were some onion, some orange bell pepper, a little carrot, 5 cloves of garlic, and a heap of wood ear mushrooms. I sliced the carrot, slivered the garlic, diced the onion and bell pepper, and chopped up the mushrooms.

I went a little goofy on the seasoning tonight, but it seemed to work out well. I took the bones out of the thighs and dressed them up with some salt, black pepper, cumin, and turmeric before tossing them into a pan of melted butter and olive oil.

I cooked the chicken skin side down until the skin started getting crispy, then I dropped the heat a touch, flipped the chicken, basted it, and added in the mushrooms and bell pepper. I let the chicken finish cooking and removed it (covering it in foil so it wouldn't get cold) and continued sautéing the mushrooms and bell pepper for a little bit. Once they were cooked to my liking (I want the bell pepper to be soft but still have a slight crunch when I bite into them), I scooped the veggies out (into a foil-topped bowl).

Next, I deglazed the pan with some white wine, added about a tablespoon of butter, and dumped in the carrot, onion, and garlic. I sautéed them for a bit, seasoned with some salt, then finished them with about an eighth of a cup of cream. Once everything was good, coated, and simmering, I added a dash or two of cayenne and a healthy portion of black pepper, then took the pan off the heat and got to plating.

Plating was simple, but I really dug the look. I put down a bed of mushroom and bell pepper, laid the thigh on top of that, then spooned some of the veggie sauce across the top. Overall, probably my favorite tasting of the chicken journey so far, though; I'll definitely be doing this again, maybe with some rice...oooo, yeah. Rice would make it perfect.

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