Crispy-Braised Chicken Thighs with Apples, Onions, and Cider

Plus: A Killer Kale Salad, Arctic Char and Lentils, and Dinner at Chez Ma Tante.

Hey everyone,

In case you missed last week’s newsletter, I shared a link to a video that I made about crispy-braised chicken thighs that were featured on America’s Test Kitchen. Here’s said video:

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This video went a bit viral (almost a million plays) and it’s so funny to me because the comments are so aggressive. “That skin’s not crispy!” “You ruined it with arugula.” But the funniest to me is: “Dude can’t even follow a recipe.”

Yes, there’s a cadre of commenters who are deeply offended that I took ATK’s chicken with fennel and Pernod and turned it into Adam’s chicken with onions and Meyer lemon juice/white wine.

Well the knives will really come out if those people discover what I did last night. At the farmer’s market, I picked up some alcoholic cider that was really complex and not at all sweet:

Then I did the exact same recipe, only instead of just onions, I sautéed apples and onions in the chicken fat and deglazed with the cider. Same process: put the browned thighs/legs back on top (this cut came from The Meat Hook, so there were legs attached to the thighs) and popped into a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.

That’s it! I cooked some polenta, stirred in butter and Parmesan, and then removed the crispy-braised chicken to a platter, reduced the sauce, and stirred in some butter. It was another lovely crispy, braised dinner. This is my new favorite way to cook chicken.

Now don’t ask me about my new exercise regiment, because I’m only three days in and we all know how quickly I jinx myself when I talk about these routines. Let’s just say I’m doing the Peloton for 45 minutes a day, taking a scenic ride and listening to Ina Garten’s memoir.

When I hopped off the bike on Saturday, I was craving a salad and so whipped up this lovely kale number using ingredients I had from my CSA:

To be specific: I made a dressing with Dijon, honey, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Then I toasted walnuts and chopped them. I pulled the stems off the kale and chiffonaded it and then cut the strips into pieces. I tossed in the dressing, massaging it a bit, adding in the walnuts, raisins, some chopped up apple, and a big handful of Parmesan cheese.

It was soooo good. Seriously. And I don’t even like kale salad, so trust!

Saturday night, I was inspired by another episode of ATK (just love those ladies, Bridgett and Julia… if I met them in real life, I’d faint) where they made salmon and lentils.

It’s such a simple preparation, but you cook lentils any which way. Their method involved adding just the right amount of water so it all gets absorbed. My method involved cooking green lentils with a whole onion, whole carrot, whole piece of celery, bay leaves, salt and lots of water until the lentils were tender. I strained it, picked out the vegetables, and saved the liquid.

Then, in the same pot, I sautéed chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and olive oil, stirred in the lentils, added just enough liquid to loosen things up. And then the signature move: I stirred in Dijon and Balsamic vinegar (they used Sherry vinegar, but I didn’t have that.)

The mustard and vinegar take things to eleven and make these lentils wham-bam-powerful stuff.

As for the salmon, I sent Craig to buy it and he came back with Arctic char. So I seared that in a skillet and served it on top of the lentils with a swirl of more good Balsamic (good = syrupy) and some celery leaf for presentation.

It was good enough to eat!

On Friday night, we met our friends Everett and Antony for dinner at Chez Ma Tante.

On a frigid winter’s night, walking into a cozy restaurant like Chez Ma Tante is a gift from heaven. It may be my favorite context for walking into a restaurant in general.

The vibes at Chez Ma Tante (which is in Greenpoint and which is famous for its pancakes at brunch) was instantly welcoming and lovely. And the food! This country pate was far out.

Like were we in France or Greenpoint? I couldn’t tell.

I had the tilefish for my entree which was elegantly presented with a whole piece of chard:

But the best thing of all was this chocolate cake which was so gooey and rich and topped with perfectly-textured whipped cream and sitting in a pool of olive oil.

This is right up there with some of the best chocolate cake in New York City.

Hey, let’s look at some links:

• The Los Angeles restaurants lost to the fire (I remember The Reel Inn, it was such an icon; Eater LA);

• How to Make the World’s’ Rarest Pasta (kottke.org);

• The Secret History of Risotto (really enjoyed this Anthony Lane piece in The New Yorker).

That’s all for this week, folks!

Still thinking about everyone in L.A., especially as the winds are picking up again. Please stay safe.

Your pal,

Adam