Sometimes you just get lucky. We were ordering groceries for a cooking class not long ago and the store didn’t have chicken thighs available in the quantity we ordered. They substituted in a package twice the size of what we needed for the same price. Score! The extra chicken thighs were quickly wrapped up and put in the freezer for future use.

Well, fast-forward to the Coronavirus spelling doom for our cooking class schedule and all of us stuck at home for the foreseeable future. Those chicken thighs got moved from the Relish freezer to my home freezer. Score #2! Now, what to make?

There is a recipe in The Staub Cookbook that I’d been wanting to try, a braised chicken thigh dish made with mushrooms and Madeira wine. I figured I could make enough swaps with what’s in my pantry to make it work. And so began another adventure using my Staub cast-iron cocotte from Relish!

I’m not a big wine drinker so I don’t keep a lot of it in the house, even less a dessert wine or aperitif like Madeira. But luckily, I had a bottle of Port, purchased on a whim during my last weekend visit to Door County. Yes, I’m shocked I had it, too… Score #3! Fortified wines like Madeira, Port, Marsala and Sherry all live in a similar flavor neighborhood, especially if they share the same distilled spirit (usually Brandy). So even though the dish likely tasted different than the recipe intended, it was still amazing.

The only other swaps I needed to make were using dried tarragon instead of fresh (thank you, well-stocked spice cabinet!), and substituting out chicken stock for vegetable stock, since I had some open in the fridge already. When I added the wine and stock to the cocotte, I opted to mix in a heaping teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon chicken base too, just to make sure that chicken flavor foundation was built.

My verdict: the recipe was easy to make, the results were delicious, and I had another great experiment with pantry swaps. The performance of my Staub enameled cast iron cocotte continues to be incredible; the lid fits so tightly and redistributes all the moisture back into the sauce, keeping the chicken perfectly tender. I love a one-pot wonder!

Enjoy!

BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH MUSHROOMS AND MADEIRA

INGREDIENTS

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms, such as cremini or button
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Madeira
1 cup chicken stock
1 Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon, plus more for garnish
Squeeze of lemon or splash of sherry vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron fry pan or braiser over medium-high heat. Add the chicken thighs, in batches if needed to prevent overcrowding, and cook until browned on both sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.
Carefully pour all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pan. Add the onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until it is soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until aromatic. Deglaze the pan with the Madeira and chicken stock and fold in the tarragon.
Return the chicken thighs to the pan, skin-side up. Roast in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reads 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Let rest for 5 minutes, then taste the sauce for salt and pepper and serve, garnished with tarragon and a squeeze of lemon.

Recipe from The Staub Cookbook (2018), courtesy of Zwilling J.A. Henckels