Nana’s Kitchen: Chicken Thighs in Mustard Sauce

Nana’s Kitchen: Chicken Thighs in Mustard Sauce

Greetings, home cooks, welcome to Nana’s Kitchen,

My kitchen was quiet this past weekend as I attended an out of town wedding. Most happy and enjoyable event. This week I am back in my kitchen cooking up chicken. I like chicken, no matter how it is fixed – fried, baked, boiled, grilled, sautéed, in salads and casseroles.

Interesting thing about chicken, there are over 20 billion in the world today. People eat more chicken around the world than all other land animals combined. Americans eat more chicken per year than meat from cattle. The chicken trivia can go on and on. One point in reading chicken lore, I did not find out what came first, the chicken or the egg!

Name a spice and it probably has been cooked with chicken somewhere. From the humble salt and pepper to the exotic saffron. Common ingredients found in most of our kitchens will be used in todays recipe including garlic and Dijon mustard.

Dijon mustard is a style of prepared mustard that originated in the city of Dijon, France. Virjuice, which is juice from unripe grapes, was used to develop the condiment. The mustard is used in sauces and and vinaigrettes.

Dijon mustard is a pale yellow in color and slightly creamy with a sharper taste than regular yellow mustard. It is made from spicy brown and black mustard seeds. Todays manufacturing uses vinegars in their recipes as well as other ingredients.

Chicken Thighs in Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:
4- 8 bone in, skin on, chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
One medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
One tablespoon olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup of creme fraiche, sour cream, or plain yogurt
2/3 cup of white wine or chicken stock
Squeeze of lemon juice, about a tablespoon
2 tablespoons of butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Salt and pepper the chicken.
Place chicken thighs on top of sliced onions in an oven proof skillet or roaster.
Mix mustard, oil, garlic, and creme fraiche in bowl.
Place some of mixture on top of each piece of chicken.
Pour wine or broth around the chicken. Do not pour over the chicken.
Bake for 40 minutes.
1/2 way through add stock to bottom of pan if drying out.
Take chicken from skillet after removing from oven.
To create sauce add lemon juice and butter to the skillet broth. Cook to thickness desired.
Pour over chicken.
Serve and enjoy!

Hints:
Trimmed some of the excess fat and skin from chicken before cooking.
Did not pre heat the skillet.
Used sour cream.
Checking the pan 1/2 way thru there was plenty of juice in the pan. No extra was needed.
I added 10 minutes to the cooking time due to the thickness of the chicken. This did not affect the moistness of this dish. Chicken was very moist. Onions cooked nicely.
The cast iron skillet worked well.
This is a rich dish. The flavor is not overpowering. Yes, the mustard flavor is there but good.
Mustard itself is gluten free. Read label on Dijon jar well before serving as gluten free due to various additives from different manufacturers.
I think this would be good served with rice.

May you have a blessed day!