Working in the Kitchen

Some tossing and arranging but no cabinet painting yet.  Today I was processing tomatoes.

I only ended up with 4 pints of crushed tomatoes.  I plugged in the portable hob so I could put the big pot on it and used the regular burners for lids and the tomatoes.  I have tons of very large green tomatoes that will never ripen at this late date and an internet search turned up a green tomato chutney recipe.  I will give that a try.

There are also tons of Roma tomatoes which it seems will be best handled by freezing.  Plenty of room in the freezer now that the big dogs are eating kibble instead of raw chicken.  The grape tomatoes are huge and I think will be dried.  Running out of time though, 30 is predicted for tomorrow night.  Fortunately, I am working a weird shift and will be home by 3-ish and will have enough time to pick it all.

I finished the day with a Jacques Pepin recipe from his series Fast Food My Way  and I found the recipe here.  My changes were to pre-cook some carrots and then add them with the other vegetables at the end.  Also, I had no dry white wine and used chicken broth instead.  It was fabulous and I will make this again.

Served with brown rice and topped with chives on a pumpkin plate.

Crusty Chicken Thighs - Jacques Pepin

• 4 chicken thighs, skin on
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 3 cloves  chopped or pressed garlic
• 3 cups white mushrooms, washed and diced
• 1/3 cup dry white wine (I used chicken broth)
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped

Set the chicken thighs skin-side down on a cutting board. Cut a 1/2 inch thick slash on either side of the thigh bone. Season the thighs on both sides with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Place chicken skin-side down in cold non-stick skillet. Turn the heat to high. When chicken starts to sizzle, turn heat to medium and move the thighs around to make sure they aren't sticking. Cover and cook for 16 to 18 minutes. Check the chicken occasionally to keep it from sticking. If the skin is browning too much after 10 minutes, turn heat to low. When done, transfer the thighs to a warm oven.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the chicken fat. Turn heat to high and add onion, garlic, and mushrooms.  Sauté, stirring often about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle in the remaining salt and pepper.  Pour in the wine (chicken broth). Continue to cook for one minute over high heat until the sauce reduces.

Spoon some of the sauce onto a plate and top with one of the chicken thighs. Sprinkle on some chives and serve (with brown rice.)