Chicken thighs with garlic and thyme butter with Northern Rock Faith

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.   

Stuffed Chicken Thighs

Stuffing meat goes back into ancient history. It has developed into one of those food issues which causes arguments whenever it is brought up! Never is this more evident than at Christmas. We argue about whether the bird should be stuffed (in my eyes, no) whether the stuffing should contain meat (in my eyes, yes) whether it should be served in balls or slices (slices for me) and whether it is better hot or cold (I love stuffing as a cold cut).
The recipe below is for a stuffed chicken leg. This is a bit of a misnomer as the whole leg is not stuffed, just the thigh, whilst it is roasted as a whole leg. I have, on a couple of occasions, stuffed a whole chicken leg and let me assure you that life is way to short to take the bone out of a chicken drumstick!
I decided to use Black Pudding because I love it. Many people find eating a blood sausage problematic but it is efficient and a good use of a product that may well otherwise have been wasted. However, if you are trying to get blood to make your own then you would have better luck buying dynamite. It is unlikely that an abattoir will supply you with any as fresh blood has a very high infection risk. However, you can get powdered blood which is used in most commercial Black Pudding.
The removal of the bone from a chicken thigh (whether attached to the drumstick or not) is a reasonably easy thing to do, just be aware that the first time you do it it will take a while though you will get much quicker at it over time. It is a very worthwhile skill to learn as chicken thigh has a lot more flavour than breast and is much cheaper.
I served this with a puree of carrot and potato, spinach and the roasting juices reduced with a little stock.

Chicken Legs stuffed with Black Pudding

2 Chicken legs (sometimes called "oyster" cut)
10gms Black Pudding crumbled or finely chopped
1 egg beaten
1 small handful breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper

Mix the beaten egg with the black pudding and bread to form a firm paste. pick off a little piece of this and fry it  and taste it to check for seasoning (this will depend entirely on the black pudding). Season if needed.

The stuffing, not too sloppy!

Bone out the chicken thighs, separating them at the joint to leave the drumstick attached but still with its bone in.

Thigh bone removed

Roll a small finger of the stuffing and place in the gap left by the thigh bone.

Stuffed, ready for closing.

Wrap the flesh around the stuffing and secure with three or four cocktail sticks. (Ideally these should have been soaked for an hour or two before starting, but I nearly always forget).

Cocktail sticks used for sealing the roast

Roast the legs in a oven at about 180 degrees for 20 or more minutes until cooked through. The skin should be beautifully crisp and golden.
Pop the legs aside to rest for a short while whilst reducing some good chicken stock with the meat juices in the roasting tin. Serve with some kind of mash (celeriac might be nice) and some squeaky greens (spinach, kale, cabbage, chard, etc). Remove the cocktail sticks, carve the thigh and serve.

Served, with a creepy hand shadow on the plate!

This serves two people with a seriously hearty meal.