Sun, 02/17/2008 - 08:26 — Steffen
This dish is hot! Very hot! Pan-fried chicken thighs in a spicy sauce made from tomatoes, bacon, onions, garlic, Thai chiles and Piquin chiles. Lime juice and white wine add tang, broiled feta cheese adds flavor and elegance.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs (preferably skin-on, bone-in)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt (to taste)
- 2 oz / 60 g bacon, cubed
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- about 10 Thai chiles
- 1 tbsp dried Piquin chiles
- 5 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup / 240 ml dry white wine
- ¼ cup / 60 ml tequila
- juice of 1 lime
- about 3 oz / 100 g tomato paste
- feta cheese for topping (see photo)
- scallions, chopped, as garnish
Preparation
- Season chicken thighs with black pepper.
- Set a frying pan over high heat. Add vegetable oil. Fry thighs on both sides (skin side first) until nicely browned and fully cooked (about 10-12 minutes per side). Adjust heat as necessary.
- Set a sauté pan over high heat. Render the bacon and cook until lightly browned.
- Add chopped onion and cook until lightly browned. Reduce heat.
- Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add chiles and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add tomatoes and salt. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add wine and tequila and simmer uncovered over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.
- Puree with a stick blender until very smooth.
- Stir in tomato paste and lime juice.
- Adjust seasoning with salt (careful when sampling, spicy!).
- Transfer to an ovenproof casserole and add the chicken (skin up). Top with feta cheese and broil until the cheese is lightly browned (see photo).
- Garnish with chopped scallions.
Notes
- Serve with pasta or rice.
- This recipe started out as an attempt to reverse-engineer the hot chicken wings from our then-favorite pub. The result has more chicken, more spice, more tomato, more flavor and more tang. And we've long since stopped going to that pub ...
Yields 4 servings
Preparation time about 45-60 minutes