More Chicken....

I read all kinds of food blogs. Some have really good sounding recipes and I bookmark them to try some day. Others make no sense at all to me. And still others have recipes that I can't wait to try! This week my blogging friend, Donya Mullins, A Southern-Soul.blogspot.com,  posted one of those "can't wait to try" recipes. I made it for supper tonight and my husband punctuated EVERY bite with "This is REALLY good"! I made a few changes and noted those below. Print this one out. It's a keeper! Thanks, Donya! ( Oh yes, we had this over rice with a Waldorf Salad -from Mercier's pink lady apples! )

Cider Braised Chicken
4 chicken leg quarters
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 - 6 carrots - roughly chopped
1 onion - chopped
5 cloves garlic - sliced
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 350°
In a large enameled cast-iron pot, heat olive oil.
Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and add to pot, skin side down.
Cook over moderately high heat, in batches, turning once, until golden brown, about 12 minutes.
Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons of fat in pot.
Add carrots, garlic and onion - cook over low heat until tender - 5 minutes.
Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
Add  cider vinegar and stir, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of the pot. Bring sauce to a boil and cook until thickened, 3 minutes.
Add broth, thyme and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
Nestle the chicken in sauce, skin side up. Transfer pot to oven and braise chicken for about 50 minutes, until cooked through.
Remove pot from oven and preheat to broil.
Transfer chicken to a baking sheet, skin side up. Broil on middle rack of the oven until skin is golden and crisp, about 5 minutes.
Simmer sauce over moderate heat until reduced to about 1/2 - 10 to 15minutes.
Stir in butter and season with salt and pepper.
Return the chicken to the casserole, skin side up, and serve.

Helen's notes: Instead of leg quarters, I used boneless skinless chicken thighs, 3/4 cup cider vinegar plus 1/4 cup apple cider and reduced the chicken broth to 2 cups. I browned the chicken, removed from skillet, browned onion and carrots, added the flour, scraped the pan bottom then added the vinegar and garlic. When that mixture thickened, I added reduced amt of broth, chicken and veggies. It cooked without a lid in the convection oven for 35 minutes. My chicken was nicely brown, so I did not do the broiling step as in the original recipe. I also did not reduce the sauce and add butter. We thought it was VERY good!