Braised Potatoes & Chicken Thighs With Scallion Butter Sauce

 It appears that we got through that atmospheric river with minimal damage. I think we sustained a knocked over trellising pole that is cemented into a 5 gallon bucket and our arch blew over.

We will rebuild.

I did get potatoes planted and I planted out some of my old wooden raised beds with spring greens, radishes and turnips. I planted various types. I am going to stagger planting and I'll seed more stuff in 2 weeks from now...fill in the blanks, so to speak. I do love to practice the art of cramscaping!

In the meantime, I needed to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. I had originally thought about making Chicken Cacciatore but, over the years, I've had that so many times that I'm, quite frankly, rather bored with that recipe. I knew I wanted a braised dish but I didn't want to use canned tomatoes. I can only eat so much citrus because I have a sensitivity to citrus and I've been eating oranges like crazy.

This recipe evolved from there.

I even dug out my cast iron skillet so that I could properly braise in it. I have a small 8-inch skillet and it works perfectly for portion control for the 2 of us. With this recipe, you'll definitely need portion control. It's that friggin' delicious!

I prepped everything ahead of time. There's bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, diced red onion, sliced lemon, lemon juice, butter, garlic and scallion. You'll also need to peel up a large baking potato, as well. You're going to boil the potato until it's barely fork tender. 

The thighs get browned up in a cast iron skillet (use one that can go into the oven). Brown for 5 minutes on one side, turn them over and cook for 5 minutes on the other side. By this time, your potato should be cooked. Just drain it and set aside to cool just a bit.

Don't rush it. Let them brown. You'll thank me later when you taste them. 

Once the chicken is nicely browned, add in the other ingredients and pour in the chicken broth. Don't add the lemon juice or butter yet. Reserve those. 

I covered my skillet with foil and popped it into a preheated 400 degree oven. I set a timer for 35 minutes. The timing made perfectly cooked, tender, fall apart chicken.

Melt the butter in the hot skillet once it comes out of the oven and drizzle with lemon juice. Enjoy!

Braised Potatoes & Chicken Thighs With Scallion Butter Sauce

Serves 2

4 chicken thighs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large russet baking size potato, peeled and cut into 8 pieces
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small red onion, diced
French grey salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chicken broth
Juice of half of a lemon and the other half sliced thinly
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 thinly sliced scallions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Boil potato until barely fork tender. Drain and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet that can also go into the oven. Season chicken on both sides, to taste, with freshly cracked black pepper and French grey salt. Brown chicken, skin side down,  in skillet, for 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn over and brown the other side.
Once chicken is golden brown, nestle the potato pieces in with the chicken, sprinkle the onions, garlic and lemon slices over the top. Add 1/4 cup chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, cover skillet and put in preheated oven for 35 minutes or until chicken is 165 degrees on a food thermometer.
Remove skillet from oven. Remove foil cover. Gently lift a piece of chicken up and add the butter and very gently move butter around until it is melted. Drizzle lemon juice over the top and sprinkle with scallions.
Serve.

Vanilla Bourbon Cheesecake

 I may be channeling my inner Golden Girl here, but is there anything more delicious and decadent than a homemade cheesecake?
It's getting to be that time of year when everything turns to pumpkin spice, apples and all those delicious fall favorites. To me, it means that it is time to create a new cheesecake.

I have another blog post about making homemade vanilla extract. Click here to view that post. I find that vanilla and bourbon are a marriage made in heaven. I don't buy vanilla flavored spirits, but I will certainly make my own! I used some of my homemade vanilla Jack Daniels in this creation. These flavors scream fall to me.

This recipe starts out with 32 ounces of room temperature cream cheese. Do not use a lower fat or fat-free type of cream cheese. Now is not the time. Use the full-fat variety. Make sure it's at room temperature. Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.

The first thing you want to do is spray a 10-inch spring-form pan with nonstick cooking spray. Then, assemble your graham cracker crust. Make sure to use brown sugar in your crust. It makes a difference in how the taste of the crust melds with the taste of the cheesecake.

Here is a photo of my homemade vanilla Jack Daniels. This is such a delightful fall flavored ingredient.

Everything gets blended up. Again, to reiterate, make sure all of your ingredients are room temperature.

The cream cheese mixture gets poured into the crust and it bakes up in just over an hour into something extraordinarily decadent and delicious.

Vanilla Bourbon Cheesecake


For the crust:

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons pure cane sugar
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
7 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

For the filling:

32 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup pure cane sugar
2/3 cup sour cream, room temperature
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 pinch of sea salt
3 tablespoons vanilla infused bourbon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
To make crust:
Mix all crust ingredients in a large bowl and press into bottom of a 10-inch spring-form pan. Set aside.

To make filling:
Blend cream cheese, with a mixer, until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar until it is dissolved. Add sour cream and mix to just combine. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing to just combine. Add salt and vanilla infused bourbon.

Pour into prepared crust. Put in preheated oven, on center rack, for 75-85 minutes, or until the center looks jiggly, much like jello. Turn off the oven and prop open the oven door with a wooden spoon and set a timer for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove cheesecake from oven to a rack to cool for another hour. Chill in refrigerator at least 6 hours to overnight.
Refrigerate leftovers.