Thyme Baked Chicken Thighs

When I cook, I love to let the ingredients speak for themselves. Dishes such as this baked chicken rely on fresh, simple ingredients that work together to create an elegant yet uncomplicated meal. Most great food is straightforward.

Chicken thighs are inexpensive and more tender than breasts. This dish, with its crispy skin and succulent onion and lemon infused meat, makes an easy yet spectacular presentation at the table. The juices from the chicken, the lemon and the butter make an excellent pan sauce.

Serves four.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs
1 lemon
1 large yellow or Vidalia onion
½ stick butter, slightly softened
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 t fresh cracked pepper
1 t coarse salt

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Finely mince the rosemary and thyme. Combine with salt, pepper and butter. This will create a compound butter. Reserve.

Cut four large rounds of lemon.
Cut four large rounds of onion.

Place onions on baking dish, top with rounds of lemon. Place one chicken thigh on each mound of onion/lemon. Rub the chicken with the compound butter, and place a nice large pat of butter under the skin.

Place baking dish in preheated oven (425 degrees) for ten minutes, or until the skin starts to brown.

Lower oven to 325 and continue baking for 45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 165 degrees.

To Plate

Remove each piece of chicken with the onion and lemon underneath. Spoon some of the pan sauce over chicken thighs.

Tips

Chicken thighs are dark meat. Dark meat, in general occurs because the muscle gets more exercise than the white meat. Because of this, a lower temperature, like the 325 degree oven this dish requires, allows the meat to cook slower and retain its juices while becoming exceptionally tender.

Because this dish creates a wonderful pan sauce, try to cook it in a good looking baking dish that can go from oven to table. It saves time in serving the dish and the pan sauce, then, does not have to be transferred to a bowl. Serving it straight from the oven will give the chicken a great rustic look.

Make sure you buy fresh thyme and rosemary. Dried simply will not work in a compound butter. Choose large onions with dry skins to ensure their freshness, and pick large juicy lemons.

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