I was watching a Jacques Pepin video on Facebook the other day and he made a simple and delicious looking recipe for chicken thighs Lyonnaise style. Serves 2:
Jacques Pepin’s Crispy Chicken Thighs
- 2 large chicken thighs (bone-in and with the skin)
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped (to end up with about 1-1 ½ tablespoons)
- 3 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- Hot sauce to taste
- ¼ cup olives, halved
- Chopped chives or parsley for garnish
Lay the chicken thighs skin side down on a cutting board. Cut along both sides of the bone to expose the bone and open up the thighs. This helps them cook more evenly. Salt and pepper both sides.
Place them skin-side down in a cold, dry, non-stick frying pan. Cook on high heat until fat from the skin starts to render, about 2-3 minutes. Cover, turn the heat to medium-low and cook 20 to 25 minutes until the chicken is done. Do not turn the chicken.
When the thighs are cooked (the juices should be clear when a knife is stuck in the thickest part), remove it from the pan and plate them.
Add the garlic to the fat and juices in the pan and cook for about 30 seconds, on medium heat. Add the vinegar and water, stirring, and deglazing for about 30 seconds or until vinegar is almost gone. It will blend with the juices from the chicken. Stir in the ketchup, hot sauce and olives and cook for another 1-2 minutes until the sauce is cooked and the olives warm.
Spoon the sauce around the chicken to avoid losing the crispy skin. Sprinkle with chives or parsley and enjoy!
My verdict:
This was really easy and made chicken with great, crispy skin! I’ll probably use this way to make whole thighs and even duck breasts from now on.
Like many others on Facebook, we were questioning the use of ketchup. Still questioning the ketchup.
I don’t really like the sweet/sour aspect, but that’s just me. Frank thought BBQ sauce might be a better alternative. There are probably a million ways of tweaking this, lemons, mustard, Buffalo sauce…
Jacques has an older video where he cooks the chicken like this (without the sauce) and then plates it with some baby spinach sauteed with some garlic.
How would you tweak it?
