I returned to the kitchen with renewed gusto last night after having Sunday off from cooking. I was in a great mood and had lots of ideas for food. They involved the same ingredients but I just couldn't get it all to fall into place in my head for a while. I was going to use chicken thighs, mushrooms, onions, risotto rice, chicken stock, zucchini, apples, lemons and some fresh thyme I had treated myself to.
I created a zucchini risotto a few months ago and we both love it! I also make a mean mushroom risotto. I couldn't decide which would be in the risotto and which would make the side. I also didn't know if I was going to bake the chicken in apples and mushrooms and make a kind of gravy in the pan with it all, or go plain roasted chicken with apples on the side. You can see the simple things that tax a housewife?!?!?
Eventually my meal was conceived and I set to. The first thing I did was get my thyme out ( no it's not, I turned the oven on to 400 first) and ready to use because it is the most fiddly herb to use in my opinion! And I wanted to make sure I got my money's worth from it so I got over half out of the packet to use. I find with fresh herbs that I buy them for something and then they sit in the fridge until they go bad and I throw them out - hence why I rarely buy them unless I know they will get used. Rinse the thyme. Then you want to hold the tip of a sprig between your thumb and forefinger and use the other thumb and forefinger to run down the stem from top to bottom pulling all the tiny leaves off as you go. If you run from bottom to top the leaves won't come off. And if you try and pick them all off individually you will go slowly nuts! Or use less thyme than you would like because you have lost interest. So, slide from top to bottom. Hopefully you are left with a bare twig and a final leaf cluster at the top that you were holding onto which you snap off and then discard the stem. Who knew you could write so much about a herb!?
Once you've done all the stripping of leaves ( they look like this) then you take a large knife and cut them up as fine as you can using the tip of the knife as a pivot (if that makes sense?) or just however you can cut them. I now had lots of ready to use thyme which I set aside for when it was needed. And after all that it was d*m# well going in every dish!
The second thing to do is get the chicken ready. Into a bowl I poured a few tbsps of olive oil. Then added a couple of tbsps of thyme, couple tsps of chopped garlic, lots of freshly ground pepper, some salt, about a tsp of lemon zest and then I remembered some basil wilting/dying in the fridge (see what happens to fresh herbs!?) so I grabbed that, finely chopped it too and added it to the mix.
Then my marinade was born.
The aroma that comes off freshly cut herbs is amazing! To then see it all mixed together with other glorious, fresh, vibrant ingredients is a thing of beauty!
I pride myself in being a combination of practical and creative, in fact, some would say I am over practical, but I think that may extend out of the kitchen so no need to digress. Anyway. When I cook chicken it almost always sticks to the pan. I am staring at a bald lemon ( zest removed ) wondering what to do with it when the sticking to the pan issue crosses my mind. I decide to slice it up and rest each chicken thigh on a slice of lemon. Not only will this stop them sticking to the pan it will also mean that lemon flavour steams into the meat. Ingenius!? Apologies to all the smart readers who are steps ahead of me and have already thought of this!
I used a shallow baking sheet lined with foil. A lot of liquid comes off ( from the chicken and lots of the lemon juice too ) when cooking so either be very careful when manouvering the pan around or use a deeper dish. This then goes into a hot oven for 1hr or until ready.
While the chicken cooks the rest of the meal can be made. I start on the risotto, which is going to be mushroom. I used half an onion finely chopped, the other half went into the apple gravy so cut it all up. As the onion is cooking cut up the mushrooms into small pieces and add them to the pan, I used a small box of button mushrooms. Sprinkle in some of the thyme, some garlic, pepper and salt and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. I had just under a cup of risotto rice left so that was what I used. I would normally use a whole carton of stock for a risotto but I wanted some for the gravy so I saved the last cup of it for the gravy and substituted water into the risotto. You stop adding liquid when it is the right consistency for you, some people like it less cooked with some 'bite' still and others like it well cooked and soft. Add the stock in ladels and stir it occasionally to stop it sticking - which means you can get on with cutting up zucchini into very thin fingers and then peeling the 2 apples, coring them and cutting them up in between stirs. Do keep an eye on the risotto, it is needy and demands attention but if you are careful you can do both risotto and other prep at the same time.
This is the risotto right when I added the rice to my onions and mushrooms and herbs etc.
The zucchini fingers sitting on a tbsp of butter waiting to be cooked at the last minute.
The apples were started in a tbsp of butter then I added some pepper, thyme and the cup of stock and covered them and let them stew. I would guess they took about 10minutes to be done and then I mashed them with a potato masher and added some cream and salt to taste.
Right around the hr mark the chicken was ready. Half way through the cooking I did take them out of the oven to put some salt on them and I scooped off all the juice from the tray and added it to the risotto. The juice had been replenished by the time the chicken was done so I was able to drizzle a little over each piece as I served it. The juice made a huge difference to the risotto, adding a zesty lemony hint to the rice dish which was really quite delicious.
This is the risotto ready. I like to make mine very soft. It was ready a little early so I just left the lid slightly ajar and it was still hot when I went to serve it ( it will hold it's heat for quite some time as it is so dense). Just give it a stir before stirring. If it has gone colder than you'd like, risotto does heat up well if you keep stirring it.
Only cook the zucchini right when you are ready as they are done really fast. They sauteed in butter with the lid on in minutes. They win in terms of visual appeal, hands down, the colours are just phenomenal. Though I am the only one who can testify to how amazing the other dishes smelt, which made them all equals.
This is the apple gravy/sauce made with chicken stock, thyme, garlic and a touch of cream. It added a welcomed sweet element to the meal which really contrasted with the tartness of the lemon chicken and the hint of lemon in the risotto.
And thus, dinner was served. It went down a storm! We loved it, all of it. I will make this again, again and again and if you are in need of cooking inspiration make a reproduction of this, you won't be disappointed! I hope.
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