It is said that we all "stand on the shoulders of giants" and this is never more true than when looking at cooking. Those of us who take ourselves a little too seriously in the kitchen find ourselves looking at the same gods and goddesses of the culinary arts for inspiration. If you are a Brit of a certain age who likes to cook its hard to find yourself going much beyond the genius that is Nigel Slater.
The dish below is very firmly based on one of his earlier acts of genius. This is not a perfectly produced copy of what Mr Slater wrote but it is so close that I am not taking any credit for its invention.
- Chicken thighs (enough for two each, make sure you have the skin on)
- Butter
- Crushed garlic
- Dried thyme
The first thing to do is to take the bone out of the thighs. This takes a bit of practice but pretty soon one becomes quite good at it! You should now have lovely flat pieces of meat with skin on one side. heat a tiny bit of the butter in a frying pan. When the butter is foaming add the thighs, skin side down. Fry until golden and crisp then turn over. In the mean time, mash up the rest of the butter with the crushed garlic and thyme. Make sure that the chicken is cooked through then pop on a plate smothered in the butter.
I served it with dauphinoise potatoes and Brussel sprouts with bacon and chestnuts. These will appear in later matches around Christmas and New Year.
The Match
Northern Monk produce great beer. Faith is one of their classic brews. It is a genuine Hazy IPA coming in at 5.4%. It matched the, garlic heavy, dinner beautifully. With a solid malty spine topped off with an American hop finish it made all the ingredients sing a little. Its rich mouthfeel even worked well with the buttery fattiness of the dish.
Just as an aside, Northern Monk produce a superb lower alcohol IPA called Striding Edge (2.8% alcohol). It's perfect for a midweek beer followed by a morning with no consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment