Easy elegance: chicken thighs with artichoke hearts, onions, and wine

CIAO RAGAZZI E FELICE DOMENICA.  Annalena has some good news to share before we start cooking today.

For years, Annalena dreamed of attending graduate school, and getting a Master's Degree - the one she couldn't afford at the end of her studies as a giovanessa.  And now, amici, it's happening.  Yes, Annalena has been accepted to the graduate program in Food Studies at NYU this autumn. She wells up a bit writing that even though she has known now for five days.  OH, she is very,  VERY excited.  Her retirement will have a purpose now,  something other than memorizing episodes of Judge Judy.  She hopes to be able to continue to visit with you all through this blog.   Time shall tell.

Now, before we begin with the first of these recipes, Annalena does want to tell you all that this was published in the NY Times, and it is a very  clearly written recipe.  There is also a video, on facebook, by the author (Ms. Alison Roman, one of Annalena's new heroes), that leads you through this very smoothly.

OK?  Now no comments along the lines of "It's so interesting that there was an article in the Times..." and that kind of blather.  Go read a book instead.    Annalena is going to tell you where she diverged from the recipe, where she agrees with Ms. Roman, and where she disagrees. 

The finished dish is above.  Here are your ingredients:

The Guyman is the family photographer, so these are not as well presented as they could be.  What we have, however, are four chicken thighs, with skin, on the bone;  two CANS of artichoke hearts , sliced in half.  A bottle of white wine (we will not use it all), a red onion, and some fresh herbs.

Ms. Roman says, and Annalena agrees, that you must use chicken on the bone, and with the skin, to make this recipe.  The directions will call for thighs, but you may substitute an equivalent quantity of another cut (2 pounds in total), keeping in mind that you will have to adjust timing.  There are guides, which  you may google, to tell you how to do that.  We shall proceed with thighs.

CANS???? ANNALENA???? some of you may be thinking.  Yes, yes.  Preparing fresh artichokes is a time consuming, less than rewarding process, of which Annalena has written before.  So, read the ingredients in your can, and when you dump out the artichoke hearts, wash them.  Then slice each one, lengthwise.  Let them drain whilst you prepare the other things you will need.  You will want some fresh herbs of some kind, and also, you will need a heaping (and Annalena means heaping) cup of white wine,  and a red onion, which you will slice into rings. 

Yet another Annalena digression on cooking with wine.  Have you heard the rule  "if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it?"  It's a good rule.  Now, Annalena does NOT recommend taking out the 90.00 bottle of wine and pouring that in your pan.  Rather, what she does, is to save leftover wine from meals, and pour it into a cooking wine bottle.  This does m ix the various types together.  Then, every month or so, she dumps it out and starts again. 

Annalena did not use a non stick pan to do this.  If you feel more secure with one, use it.\

  And to see if your  pan is going to be big enough, here's a professional tip:  dump all your ingredients in your chosen pan, BEFORE you begin to cook (the solid ones).  If they fit, you're good.  If not, size up. 

Ok, now to the mechanical end of things .  Preheat your oven to 425.  Put a bit of olive oil into your pan, and add your chicken thighs, SKIN SIDE DOWN, to the cold pan.  Bring the pan to medium heat.  You'll increase it later. 

Chicken thighs are rich with fat.  YET, you need to add a bit of fat at the beginning , to get the cooking process going.  As the chicken begins to make its frying sound, you can up the heat, to medium high, and you will see how the quantity of fat increases in the pan.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, unless you have very fatty chicken.  If it looks like too much, at some point, you'll have to ditch some.  We'll get there. 

It takes about 6-8 minutes for the chicken to brown nicely on the skin.   So time that, and when it looks good, turn it over, and cook another five minutes or so.  You will get:

(That is not all of them, ragazzi.  The plate was not big enough). 

Ok, so now, eyeball the fat in your pan.  Make your judgement.  And then bravely add the artichoke hearts, the sliced onion,  a few strands of thyme, or oregano, or something of "medium strength."  Rosemary might very well overwhelm this dish.  Sage certainly would.   

So you have the vegetables in there, and now, you'll want to stir them a bit, until you just see edges of brown.  Then put the chicken back in.  Find spaces for it, or just put it on top of the veggies, don't decorate Buckingham Palace.   Now, move your face away from the pan, just in case, and add the wine. 

Does that look good or what?  Not done yet. We need 10 minutes in the oven.  That will finish up the chicken and also probably reduce your liquid a bit.  

PROTECT YOUR HANDS, take the pan out of the oven, and then, heat it gently for about another 5 minutes to reduce the liquid.  And here's dinner:

Now, if that is not the height of simple sophistication, well, what is?  

Do go to youtube and look for Ms. Roman's video.  It is incredibly well made and entertaining.  And look for the printed page.  Ms.  Roman is not old, and she has accumulated so much wisdom, and presents it so bluntly and clearly, you should all be fans.