A one-skillet chicken supper, full-flavored chicken thighs cradled in a creamy gravy made with apple cider.
When we lose an old friend, we know the expressions of grief: we cry, we console, we deliver casseroles. But how should an old tree be mourned? Often, the gravestump remains, raw, harsh, ugly.
Here lie the roots of an old friend, an oak that shaded our lives in summer, dropped acorns for the squirrels, shed leaves to rake, cut craggly patterns into winter skies.
Gone but not Forgotten.
When I visit my family home in the north woods of Minnesota, I visit the trees, too. There’s the clump in whose V the neighbor girls made doll beds of crimson poppy petals. There’s the birch where family photographs were taken, recording new rings in both tree and children. After I cut a boy’s initials into the trunk of the poplar by the road, my forester father sat me down for a serious talk. “Trees are living beings,” he taught.
Kirkwood, Webster and all the 100 towns in St. Louis are thick with trees. Flying into Lambert, a window seat gives evidence, vast tracts of green. Oaks and maples take a couple of generations to grow tall. A storm takes one down, or severs a limb, in seconds; a man with a chainsaw requires 15 minutes. Justice prevails it seems, when it takes the man and a chipper a day to remove the tree’s roots, its marker, its grave, but no, never, not its memory.
QUICK SUPPER:
CHICKEN with CREAMY CIDER GRAVY
10 to finish
Time to table: 50 minutes
Serves 4
- 1/2 tablespoon butter (for flavor)
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil (for its low smoke point)
- 1-1/4 pounds chicken thighs, preferably bones-in, skins-on
- Salt & pepper
- Dried sage
- 1 shallot, minced small
- 3/4 cup apple cider, preferably unpasteurized
- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/4 cup cream or 1 tablespoon butter
- Salt & pepper to taste
CREAMY CIDER GRAVY
In a large well-seasoned or non-stick skillet, heat butter and oil on medium heat til shimmery. Remove chicken skins, discarding all but one. Place skin and thighs top-side down in skillet (they should sizzle). Season with salt, pepper and sage, then let cook without moving for 5 minutes. Turn over, season, cook another 5 minutes. Cover and let cook for 30 minutes. With tongs, transfer thighs to a plate, keep warm.
Add shallot, stir to coat and let cook 1 – 2 minutes. Add cider and soy sauce. Increase heat to medium high, bring liquid to a fast simmer with lots of bubbles. Stirring often, let cook until cider reduces by about half. Stir in the cream or butter, let cook, stirring often, until sauce turns mahogany and thickens.
Last month a reader wrote to sing praises of a pork chop version of Chicken Sybil using apple cider for the liquid. She was surprised, however, when the cider flamed up when added to the hot skillet -- just like a flambe. I've never had this happen, but just in case, you might turn off the fire before adding the cider. Thanks for the tip, Sally! This chicken is completely wonderful with fall's 'winter' squash like butternut, hubbard, acorn and more. In the photo is a mashed version of an acorn squash cooked in the microwave but there are many ways to cook winter squash. I wrote this column a year ago when neighbors removed a small but healthy tree. And then, in June, this happened. Some decisions, there's no understanding.
More Fast Chicken Recipes Perfect for Fall
Recent Favorites from A Veggie Venture
~ Julia Child's Lentil Salad ~
~ One-Skillet Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce ~
~ Pumpkin Dip ~
~ Sweet 'n' Sour Cabbage ~
If you like Kitchen Parade's recipes, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, visit A Veggie Venture, my food blog, home to the Alphabet of Vegetables where there's a vegetable in every recipe and vegetables in every course.
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Your Comments:
Cider gravey, huh? I've never heard of such a thing, but it does sound delicious.
It's so horrible.
in sympathy.
Barb ~ Thank you for understanding. It's been four months since I watched it come down outside my office window, it still hurts to think about it.
Thanks,
Tigerlille
We have gentlemen taking out wood from trees that have fallen, but not healthy ones.
I live in the country and like having some screening between me and my prolifically building (realtor) and new neighbors. What was once a clean field is now going to house 14 houses total in the field to my direct north, less than a football field away from my bathroom/bedroom window. Grrrrr. Had I known that field was up for sale, hubby and I would have bought it. The road is literally less than a football field, about half of one, from our bedroom window.
I hate curtains.
Trees work wonderfully for that aspect of decorating.