Crispy Chicken Thighs in Mushroom Cream Sauce

As you may know, sometimes out of accidents amazing things are born.  I cite here vulcanized rubber, penicillin, Coca-Cola, teflon, and this chicken recipe.  I tried to make a dish from Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way calling for a quick cooked chicken thigh in a very fast mushroom pan sauce, but I tried to cut too many corners and came up with something that, while looking unappetizing, tasted amazing.  So I took it a step further and turned it into a cream sauce, preserving the cooking technique for the chicken and the sauce but adding a few steps and ingredients.  I was amazed with the results, which were still easy and amazingly delicious.  The mushroom cream sauce is on par with the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever eaten, just FYI.

You can make either the chicken, the sauce, or both, and any part of this will be great.  I had never seen this technique for cooking chicken, which is strange on at least two levels, but it really works.  I will definitely be using it in the future.  And while I'm not sure how he even figured it out, I will say that Jacques is a miracle worker of quick-cooked food techniques.

Crispy Chicken Thighs in Mushroom Cream Sauce
Modified from Fast Food My Way, by Jacques Pepin

• 4 large chicken thighs (~1.75 pounds total), bone-in, skin on
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp black pepper
• 1 cup diced (1/4”) onion
• 1.5 tbsp coarsely chopped garlic
• 3 cups washed and minced baby bella or white button mushrooms
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh chives, for garnish

Arrange the chicken thighs skin side down on a cutting board.  Using a sharp paring knife, trim off any excess skin at the edges and cut about ½” deep into the flesh on either side of the thigh bone – this will help the meat cook more quickly.  Sprinkle the thighs with ½ tsp each of the salt and pepper and arrange them skin side down in one layer in a nonstick skillet with a tight-fitting lid.

Check this out - cut the chicken thigh along both sides of the bone (but not through the skin), to make it cook almost as fast as a boneless thigh!  Never thought to do this before, and thighs won't dry out like breasts so you can be confident that this will still turn out juicy and delicious even if you pierced the flesh.

Place the skillet over high heat and when the thighs start sizzling, reduce the heat to medium, cover tightly, and cook for 16-18 minutes more, checking occasionally to make sure the chicken is browning properly.  Yup, lid on - you're going to somehow end up with crispy skin despite the moist cooking environment.  It's crazy, right?

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150 degrees F.  If the chicken seems to be cooking too fast after 10 minutes or so, reduce the heat to low.  The skin of the chicken should be very crisp and brown.  After 16-18 minutes, remove lid and check on chicken.  Allow to continue cooking for a few minutes to the let skin crisp up to the point that it releases from the pan surface, if it is sticking.  Be delicate here - the chicken skin will let you know when it is done.  If you just rip the chicken out of the pan, you will possibly tear the skin, which a) won't be done because it was still stuck, and b) will look horrible because you didn't show it the proper respect.  A perfectly browned skin will release from the pan when there's no more fat seeping through the pores, and it has hardened to the point that it contracts and no longer has any suction to the pan surface.  Transfer the chicken skin side up to an ovenproof platter and place it in the oven.

This is what the cooked chicken will look like (pan just used for temporary storage).  Crispy browned skin on the top, cooked through on the bottom.  No trace of red blood rising up by the time you're done in your dutch oven.

Discard all but 2 tbsp fat from the skillet in which you cooked the chicken.  Add the onion, garlic, and mushrooms and sauté them over high heat for about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ tsp salt and pepper on the mushrooms and then add the wine and any liquid that has accumulated around the thighs on the platter.  Deglaze the pan with this liquid, scraping the surface lightly to dislodge stuck food bits.  Cook the sauce over high heat for about 1 minute to reduce the liquid.

The mushrooms I used - half baby bella, half white button

If you're lazy, chop everything in the food processor.  However, you will get finely minced bits instead of delicious coarse chunks, which would probably have cooked up better.  Mincing this fine will release much more water, so you won't maximize the flavor of the mushrooms; still, this beat every mushroom sauce I've ever eaten, so it can't be all bad.

Add heavy cream and thyme.  Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree until soft.  If too thick, add more cream to thin out to a sauce consistency.

To serve, divide the sauce among four hot plates.  Place a thigh in the middle of the mushroom sauce on each plate, spoon some sauce over, sprinkle on the chives, and serve.

Here was my first attempt, without enough cream

Here's the final version, arguably in need of a bit more cream but delicious regardless.  In decreasing order of advocacy, you could eat this sauce on steak or this chicken, served alone as a soup, or just rubbed on your gums when nobody is looking.  Note how crispy the chicken skin is, with NO breading, just from being left alone in the pan for 20 minutes.  Better than the skin on the best deep-fried chicken I have tried.