Live the Live ™

I recently saw what I thought was a pretty clever idea of taking a cabbage and slicing it into thick, steak-like pieces, laying them flat in a pan, and then placing marinated chicken on top of them to roast in the oven. The juices from the chicken would flavor the cabbage as it all cooked. I decided I’d try my own version of that recipe.

You can use any part of a chicken you like, even a whole spatchcocked chicken which would lay flat in a larger pan if you’re serving a group of people. But cooking for myself, I choose leg quarters (which are the thigh and drumstick together) or simply chicken thighs. They’re full of flavor, and have the fat content you need to drip down into the veggies below to flavor them as well. Something like chicken breast would simply be too dry.

I wanted to use what I had in my fridge, so instead of cabbage, I had Brussels sprouts–baby cabbages, in essence. I cut them in half and layer them flame-side down in a roasting pan covered with non-stick aluminum foil. I wanted more veggies, though, so I sliced up a half-onion I had in the fridge, and I also added a package of frozen organic sweet potatoes I had in my freezer. Now the bottom of my pan was full.

I buy humanely-raised pastured chicken, which means the birds are usually smaller than what you’d find in a supermarket (no steroid monsters here!), so one package contained 5 small chicken thighs. Once thawed, I placed them skin-side down in a glass container. Then it was time to make the marinade.

I chose a marinade that would give a beautiful caramelized color to the dish, using some of my favorite marinade ingredients.

3 oz (6 tablespoons) maple syrup
2 oz (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil
2 oz (1/4 cup) balsamic vinegar
1 oz (2 tablespoons) soy sauce
1 oz (2 tablespoons) Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon powdered rosemary
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

I combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to mix.

I brush the tray of veggies with some of the marinade just to give them a head start on flavor.

I use about a 1/2 cup of the marinade on the chicken thighs, tossing them around in the marinade to make sure they’re well coated. Then I pour the rest of the marinade in a saucepan that I will cook on the stove top.

I like to place the thighs skin-side down and then poke some holes into the meat with a fork to really let the marinade soak in. I let them marinate at room temperature for about an hour. Any longer than that, and they need to go into the fridge.

Once I’m ready to cook, I pre-heat the oven to 325. I place the marinated thighs skin-side up over the veggies in the tray. I discard any leftover marinade in the bowl with the chicken.

While the thighs and veggies are cooking, I take the reserved marinade and heat it over medium heat in a saucepan until it reduces by half to make a nice glaze that I will brush onto the chicken when it’s done cooking.

It’s important to remember that once any of the marinade touches raw chicken, to avoid salmonella, you have to cook it before you can taste it!