Chicken Thighs in Sicilian Style Sweet-Sour Sauce with Mint

By Stuart

This dish is a winner all around. Everyone loves sweet-tart and spicy, and the bright finish of mint tastes like summer; the recipe's easy and pretty quick; chicken thighs are the cheapest part of the bird next to the legs (which would work here, too); and you have to work pretty hard to ruin thighs since they stay juicy for quite awhile. One last lagniappe is that the dish is better on the second and third day, and the sauce is dynamite.

Sides could be as simple as sliced cucumbers and ears of fresh corn to roll in that delicious sauce (instead of butter).

Ingredients

• Good tasting extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 4 large garlic cloves, thin sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon dry whole leaf oregano
• 1 medium sized ripe tomato, chopped, or 2 canned tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup wine or cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 sugar, or to taste
• 3 tight-packed tablespoons spearmint leaves, torn

Preparation

Step 1

1. Lightly film the bottom of a 12-inch straight sided sauté pan with olive oil. Heat over medium high. Add the chicken thighs, skin side down, and turn heat to medium. Slowly brown the thighs on both sides, sprinkling them with salt and pepper. They should be bronzed and crisp.

2. Stir in the garlic cloves, pepper flakes, oregano, and tomato, and sauté 1 minute over medium heat. Add the vinegar, water, and sugar (stand back in case it spatters). Adjust the heat so the liquid bubbles very gently, cover the pan and cook the thighs about 20 minutes, or until they reach 170°F. at their centers on an instant reading thermometer.

3. At this point, you could cool the dish and refrigerate the chicken in its sauce overnight. To finish the chicken, heat it in the sauce until it's hot all the way through. Remove it to a platter. Then simmer down the pan juices by about half, scraping up all the brown bits with a spatula until it is rich tasting, with a good balance of sweet, tart and spicy. Adjust flavors if needed. Pour over the chicken and scatter with the fresh mint. Serve hot or warm.

LYNNE'S TIPS
• You want fresh spearmint leaves for this dish, not the more assertive, medicinal-tasting peppermint. There is a big difference between the two and they are not interchangeable.

• Stock up on chicken thighs when they're on sale and freeze for later. They're friendly to wallets and can stand in for more expensive meats like veal, beef and lamb. No, they don't taste like veal, lamb or beef, but they can take the same seasonings. All's fair when cooking on a budget.

• Use chicken thighs in sautés with flavorful pan sauces like the recipe here, grill them with a tangy basting sauce, stew them, or roast them in the oven along side fall's root vegetables.