The leg/thigh man strikes again

I rarely buy chicken parts, unless it's a special bulk deal for legs or wings. I prefer to get a whole bird and break it down. Then I also can make some fresh stock. Those of you who read my blog from time to time know what a brining fanatic I am. Only when you have brined a chicken breast for several hours, pounded it flat, breaded and shallow fried it, will you know why I do it. My legs and thighs were brined overnight, a long time even for me. But a thorough rinse and no added salt during cooking are the only rules you need to obey.

Pan-fried chicken legs and thighs

2 chicken legs

2 chicken thighs

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika (all to taste)

Heat the oil and butter in a cast iron or other heavy skillet until the butter has melted and is almost ready to brown. Season the chicken with all the dry ingredients and place it skin side down in the pan. Leave it alone for 5 minutes. Turn it. Leave it alone for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low. Tent loosely with a piece of foil. Continue cooking about 10 more minutes until juices run clear.

Creamed turnips greens

Let’s face it, turnip greens are kind of bitter. I’ve cooked them 3 times now and this version is terrific and by far the most successful. Part of the reason I decided to cream them is that they were sorta wilting. Rinsing them in a big bath of cold water while trimming away the stems firmed them up pretty well.

If you like collards you would probably like turnip greens. They are bitter like broccoli rabe is bitter. Creaming them resulted in an extremely succulent side dish to go with tonight’s homemade pizza.

Creamed turnip greens (2 servings)
1 large bunch turnip greens, well-rinsed, stems removed, roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp granulated garlic*
½ tsp onion powder
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp flour

Heat the oil in a big sauté pan on medium high.

After rinsing the greens drain them in a colander but don’t try to remove all the water. That’s basically going to be part of the cooking liquid.

Add the greens to the pan and toss with tongs while they start to wilt down. As with spinach and other greens, these will almost overwhelm the pan at first but then reduce to a small fraction of their original bulk.

When they are mostly wilted, add salt and pepper, garlic, onion powder, lemon and orange zest and chicken stock. Turn the heat down, cover the pan, and simmer lightly for about 5 minutes. Put the greens in the food processor and puree. Return to the saute pan. Add the cream and flour and stir to combine. The mixture should thicken in a minute or 2. Taste and adjust seasonings.

This can be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated before reheating in the microwave.

*granulated garlic is not the same as garlic powder – it just happens that the last time I was intending to buy garlic powder this was all the store had – I actually like it a lot, but just use garlic powder if that’s what you have.