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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Week 33 : Nick's Spicy Thighs



1 med onion, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
salt
8 medium Yukon gold potatoes
8 chicken thighs
1 cup cilantro leaves, loosely packed
10 medium tomatillos, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 small can jalapenos, drained, reserving 2 Tbs juice

Spread the onion on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Sprinkle with salt.  Layer potatoes, chicken, cilantro and tomatillos, sprinkling each layer with salt.  Top with jalapenos and drizzle with reserved juice.  Cook on LOW 8 hours or HIGH 6 hours.

Let me first start by thanking Nick R. for his contribution of this recipe.  And also, for being a good sport as we picked the name.  Nick opted out of naming the recipe for me, so he put his trust in a jury of his peers and this is what we got.  Unfortunately, Nick would not give us a picture of his actual thighs for the blog this week!

This recipe has such a different flavor for me.  Very good.  I have never even bought tomatillos before and got one of those looks from the produce guy when I asked what they looked like!  I wish I had put more in the pot because cooked like this they are delicious.  I also have never used chicken thighs.  The original recipe called for skinless thighs, but I couldn't find any at the store.  I am all about throwing everything in the pot and going, so I did not remove the skin prior to cooking the thighs.  However, the skin peels off very easily after cooking.  I also have never used Yukon Gold potatoes before.  Oh my!  These potatoes have a noticeably different taste.  Very creamy.  The original recipe also only called for 4 large potatoes.  I put lots in since I figured 8 thighs would last quite a few meals.  WRONG!  Figure on at least 2 thighs per serving, which makes 4 potatoes more sense!  Which brings me to my next point.  Only 4 servings for this recipe.  Most of the recipes on here make enough to feed a small army, but not this one.  If you are looking to increase the number of servings, I would use chicken breasts and add as many as you want to the pot- making sure, of course, that they don't dry out.  The recipe also called for the canned jalapeno slices.  All I could find was the diced and they worked just fine.  However, if you are looking for heat, you are not going to get it with this recipe.  As with the white chicken chili I made, I was expecting it to be spicier with the jalapenos.  I am wondering if cooking them a long time takes the heat out of them.  I brought a sample to a friend last night and we think this could be the case.  So, my suggestion would be to use fresh jalapenos and add them later, closer to the end of the cooking time.  Overall, I would definitely make this recipe again! 




1 comment:

  1. Yumm...can't wait to try this, we love thighs, especially on the grill with BBQ sauce (very traditional) and grilled sweet potatoes on the side. So glad you cleared that up about the name of the dish...I was dearly tempted to make a comment...tee-hee...:) by the way, Sprouts (and Sunflower) sells boneless, skinless thighs-they have them on sale every few weeks (just were last week) and you can get a pack of 6 or so for a great price! And MY personal produce guy would NEVER make you feel badly about asking what a tomatilla looks like! He's available for free consultations!:)

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