Chicken Marengo

Here’s a nice one-pot dish that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner. There are tons of Chicken Marengo recipes out there, but this one is from a trusted source: the New York Times.

While I liked this dish, I should have known better than use bone-in chicken thighs. Next time, I’d use only boneless chicken thighs, preferably with skin on, though those can be hard to find. I’ve found that some butchers will bone them for you and leave the skin on.

Note that the NYT recipe calls for a whole chicken cut into pieces. Forget that. Just buy the pieces you need and save yourself the hassle. If you do use precut pieces, about 2 pounds should be enough. The thighs pictured here totaled about that much.

What you’ll need:

• 3-pound chicken cut into serving pieces (or 2 lbs pre-cut pieces, boneless if you think chicken bones are revolting)
• Salt to taste
• Ground pepper
• 2T butter
• 2T olive oil
• 8 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 0.5 cup onion, finely chopped
• 0.5t garlic, finely minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 0.5 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups cored and cubed red ripe tomatoes, or use canned tomatoes
• 0.25 cup tomato paste (I didn’t have any, and it still turned out great)
• 0.5 cup chicken broth
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

Heat the butter and oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down and cook until golden-brown on one side ~5 min). Turn the pieces over (tongs work well) and cook on that side for about 2-3 more minutes. Remove the pieces, pour off the oil/fat, and put the chicken back.

Over medium heat, distribute the mushrooms over the chicken, then add the onion, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Cook about 5 more minutes. Make sure to stir things up so the mushrooms and onions cook evenly.

Add the wine, then the tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth and parsley. Bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. It should reach an internal temperature of no less than 165 degrees. How long this takes depends on the size of the chicken pieces.