Chicken with Courgettes, Onions and Tarragon
A Seasonal Supper for July using my favourite vegetable vehicle
Hi everyone!
Chicken thighs are really such a gift, aren’t they. In these last few months when pregnancy and a busy work schedule has been getting in the way of me being more creative with dinners they have really come into their own for me. They need so little to be exceptional and create the most wondrous juices that can be lengthened into sauces, broths or soaks. My only *must* is that their skins be as shatteringly crisp as possible, so that does require a little bit of care and attention. Slow browning in a cast-iron is my preferred way to achieve this.
In the same breath, I sometimes regret the kerfuffle of having to brown chicken, remove it, start the sauce/braise/rest of the dish. For a recipe writer, we know that adding in a step can sometimes put people off a dish altogether. The eternal struggle is between “perfection” and “good enough”. Chicken thigh tray bakes are enormously popular because they only require one step, and I get that, it’s just that the crispy skin can sometimes suffer for it. I suppose you could call this a 2 step tray bake. You might not even call it that, considering I cooked it in a pan, not a tray. But, the sentiment is the same, and a small roasting tray would work just as well.
To make this as streamlined as possible we are using a kitchen hero of mine, the courgette, at its peak right now in high summer. I feel like its an unlikely thing to admit, but they are one of my absolute favourite and most used vegetables. In the summer I put them in my shopping basket every week as I know I’ll find a use for them. Last year’s Courgette Risotto is good evidence of my obsession. For me the best thing about a courgette is their sponginess. A bit like a potato they are mellow in flavour, therefore are great “vehicles” for stronger profiles. However, unlike a potato, they are not starchy but spongey, and therefore absorb even better, as well as cooking a lot quicker. In this recipe, sliced into £1 coin rounds, they cook in 20 minutes, sitting under the browned chicken thighs with onions, white wine and lots of butter in a hot oven.
They are self saucing - no starch means the liquor stays brothy and light. And they have soaked up all that chicken juice and are luscious, glistening and decadent. So yes, there are still two steps to this recipe because you are browning off your thighs before they hit the oven, but the rest is as simple as it gets - all in one tray, in the oven, 20 minutes later dinner is on the table.
Once cooked, lots of fresh tarragon is stirred through the courgettes and it makes this utterly sublime summer accompaniment to our meat. Soft, squishy, buttery, meaty, fragrant. It’s got it all. I like this on rice, but boiled potatoes, toasted garlic rubbed bread or something like farro or spelt would be lovely here too.
CHICKEN WITH COURGETTES, ONIONS AND TARRAGON
