I’m going to have to steal Rachael Ray’s favorite saying to describe this one – YUMMO!!! I’ve decided that my love for cooking should be shared, not because I want to show off my mad culinary skills (ha ha!), but because I love food, I understand food, I love cooking, and most of all I think I can be helpful in inspiring even the worst cook to want to get in the kitchen! For me, its not all about measuring and being precise. Its about trying new flavors, tasting, enjoying, and coming up with my own take on recipes. So relax, grab a glass of wine and channel that inner-creative that I know is in you…AND LET’S COOK!

First of all, before we delve into the recipe, lets talk for a minute about capers. Why is everyone so afraid of the precious, little, salty wonders? Don’t be! Now, I certainly wouldn’t grab a spoon and dig in, but used in moderation in conjunction with the appropriate recipes, they can be a delightfully unexpected flavor. If you are asking yourself, “What the heck is a caper???!!”, well then I’ll explain, best I can, what they are. They can be found in any grocery store in the same isle as the pickles. Sometimes you have to have a sharp eye to spot them because they come in a very tiny jar. They look like miniature green olives. They are salty. Enough said. Most are imported from Turkey, and bottled in the USA. What else can I say? Go run out and pick up a jar!

This recipe was found on Pinterest, courtesy of theurbanspork.com. I have to say, if you are living under a rock and you haven’t discovered Pinterest yet, GO CHECK IT OUT! It is amazing and you will find me talking about it a lot on my blog and Facebook.

You will notice that I add in my own notes to recipes, so you can see how I changed it to suit my needs. Sometimes I don’t have all the ingredients, and that’s OK! I just substitute for something else or omit it. The point is, don’t be afraid, its just a recipe…and in my opinion, its not meant to be followed! (Now Baking is a completely different story. Don’t follow a cake recipe to-the-t and you’ll end up with a disaster. Just sayin’)

Braised Chicken with Lemon & Capers

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 2 bone-in chicken thighs with skin (6 ounces each) **I used skinless, boneless thighs because it’s what I had and my family prefers boneless.
• 2 chicken breasts with skin (6 ounces each) **omitted.
• all-purpose flour for dusting
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter **Don’t be afraid of butter! Even when being health concious, a little butter can go a long way with flavor and isn’t going kill ya!
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin 0live oil
• 3 large peeled garlic cloves
• 3/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc **Have kids? Don’t Worry! The alcohol cooks off. (My stepdaughter thought this was so weird when she first started to cook with me!)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 3 1-inch strips of lemon zest **I cut slices of lemon instead to get the oils and intense flavor from the zest as well as the juice from the lemon.
• 4 thyme springs **If you don’t have fresh thyme, no biggy, just used dried and be sure to rub it between your fingers as you add it to the pot to “wake up” the flavor.
• 2 teaspoons capers, drained
• 2 bay leaves

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust with flour.  In a large ovenproof skillet, melt the butter in the oil.  Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned (12 to 14 minutes).  Transfer the chicken to a large plate and pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. **When using skinless, boneless there won’t be much fat.

Add the garlic to the skillet and cook over low heat until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the wine and boil over high heat until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.  Add the stock, lemon zest, thyme, capers and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, skin side up.  Transfer the skillet to the oven, cover and braise for 30-35 minutes, until the meat is tender.

Remove chicken, then return the skillet to the stove and boil until the sauce is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Discard the thyme, bay leaf and lemon zest before serving. **Don’t forget this last step! No one likes sticks in their food!
PS: I leave in the lemon slices; you can eat them too! It’s a zingy treat to bite into with your chicken!

Serve with fingerling, or mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetables.

Remember, when cooking, try to ENJOY IT. Don’t get stressed about measuring EXACTLY 1 tablespoon of garlic, just eyeball it! If you aren’t comfortable with that, trust me, the more you do it, the better you’ll get at judging what a tablespoon looks like. I just dump right out of the jar into my hand (which horrifies my Mom, by the way!)

Happy cooking,

Melisa