Thursday, September 22, 2011

Emily's (Recently) Famous Stuffed Chicken Thighs

PREPARATION PART:
4 Chicken Thighs (skin ON)
Tasty Marinade (I usually just mix up some soy sauce, lemon juice, a little olive oil, and some spices [garlic salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne])

Mix up marinade and pour on chicken thighs and let marinate for 2 hours or so (in fridge).

STUFFING PART:
1/2 Cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs, but I bet plain flavored normal bread crumbs would produce the same effect)
1/2 Cup diced mushrooms (diced REAL small)
2-3 Tablespoons diced onion (also diced very small)
Zest of one lemon
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
(or plain or apple cider)
2 Tablespoons Water

Mix up bread crumbs, mushrooms, diced onion, and lemon zest. Add soy sauce, vinegar and water. Stir together till well moistened.


THE GROSS PART:

Slide your finger underneath the skin on the thighs, the skin should separate fairly easy from the thigh. Try to make a little pocket in the skin by keeping 3 sides still attached to the meat and having the only opening on one side.

Take a spoonful of the stuffing and place it underneath the chicken skin. You want at least a quarter inch of stuffing under the skin, spread out evenly. Max would be about half an inch. Now you have two options for cooking these babies.

TO BAKE:

Make sure the chicken thighs are DRY. Pat dry with paper towels and remove the marinade (or else it will puddle in your pan and your stuffing will be MUSHY. Gross.) Rub tops of thighs with a little olive oil for even browning and salt and pepper. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes in a high-walled pan.

TO GRILL:
Don't worry about chicken being dry, the juices will drip out so you get a perfectly moist stuffing. Rub tops of thighs with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill on indirect heat for a while until done... (honestly, I don't know how to grill chicken thighs, but if you do just use common sense [or google]. They are A LOT better grilled.)

2 comments:

  1. I want to try this with chicken breasts - sounds great Em!

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  2. I'm sure that would be great. I'm usually not a big fan of chicken thighs, but the meat is so moist and tender this way.

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