We eat a lot of chicken in this house. No surprise there. It's usually one of the cheapest meats to buy and it's pretty adaptable to all sorts of flavours and cooking styles. I used to only buy free range organic, but these days with a much tighter budget, I can no longer afford to be so fussy, and so I buy higher welfare chicken, which isn't the cheapest, but isn't the most expensive . . . and hopefully it is what it says on the label . . . and is actually higher welfare.
I cook a lot of breasts, but I do love thigh meat more. It is more succulent and has more flavor than the breast meat. It's lovely, skin on and bone in . . . roasted with nothing more than garlic, salt and pepper on it. , until the skin is crisp and crackling and the meat is juicy good. Finger licking good. You can't beat it in my opinion.
Today I opted for boneless skinless thighs. When you take the skin of a lean meat like chicken you have to protect it's juiciness somehow, and so I dredged them in a highly seasoned flour and lightly browned them in a skillet, until they were golden brown on both sides.
I popped them into a shallow casserole dish. I whisked together a jar of salsa (medium) with a heaped teaspoon of Chipotle Chili Paste, which gave the salsa a nice bit of heat and some smokiness. I divided that equally amongst the thighs, dolloping it on top. Then I got really naughty . . . I sprinkled the whole thing with cheese. Once baked the thighs were succulently tender (I love that in a thigh), nicely flavoured and spiced . . . and oozingly delicious with all of that melted gooey cheese on top. In short . . . it was a winner. I love it when that happens. Good food doesn't need to be complicated. It only has to taste good. Simples . . .
*Chipotle Baked Chicken Thighs*
Serves 4Printable RecipeTender flavourful chicken in a spicy chipotle sauce, topped with cheese. Delicious!8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat70g of plain flour (1/2 cup)1/2 tsp garlic powder1/2 tsp black pepper1 tsp saltoil for frying1 jar of tomato salsa (about 1 1/2 cups)1 tsp chipotle chili paste (or less as desired)4 ounces grated medium cheddar cheese or Jack cheeseLime wedges and sour cream to serve (optional)