Pan Roasted Chicken Thigh with Bacon Gravy and Succotash

Succotash. Nobody in the Pacific Northwest knows what it is. But since I've become a country-music loving, gun-toting, soft-core redneck, I felt the need to revive my (barely) Southern roots one weekend and introduce succotash to my kinfolk.

A note about getting a good crackle on fowl skin or a good sear on a steak: dry your meat. Take a paper towel and dry it off before seasoning it. Here's why: hot pan + plus wet meat = steamed meat.
Hot pan + dry meat = meat sticking until it's released on its own at exactly the right time and a perfect crust or crackly skin. Science.

Need:
Bone-in, skin on chicken thighs, dried off
S+p
Garlic powder
Vegetable oil

Succotash:
Chopped bacon
1 C chopped yellow onion
1 C frozen corn, defrosted
1 C frozen lima beans, defrosted
S+p
Garlic powder
Cayenne

Bacon gravy:
Chopped bacon
1/2 C chopped yellow onion
Some white wine
Salt
1 tbsp butter

1. Season chicken thighs all over and sear in a cast iron skillet. Place chicken in a preheated 375° oven for about 35 min. Done.

2. Place chopped bacon in a pan and heat and cook it until crispy. Remove from pan, leave drippings. Add the onions and saute for 1 min. Then add the corn and lima beans. Saute and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper to taste. Thoroughly heat veggies thru, then add cooked bacon back into the mix.

3. In another pan, cook chopped bacon, again, til crispy and remove. Add the onions and saute 1 min. Then add a bit of white wine. Keep the heat med-high to high until some of the wine cooks off a bit. Taste and salt, as needed. Turn off the heat, add the bacon back to the sauce and the butter. Melt it into the sauce until it comes together.

This was a delightfully lightened (pfft) version of Southern food. I garnished with mint because Kentucky derby. And because it's what I had on hand for garnish.

Vietnamese Inspired Steak Salad

I'm divorced. That's my reason and I'm sticking to it.

Meanwhile, my cooking has elevated to another dimension that I could never have dreamed of before. I've been inspired over and over again and my passion has been re-ignited. On the verge of turning 29 for the first time this year, I resolve to follow my passion and keep developing this talent that people keep telling me I have. And to be honest, at this point, even I'd rather eat my own cooking than go out.

This salad was thrown together tonight based on a whim and a glimpse of a steak salad this morning on foodgawker (my favorite way to pass time at work is to stare at pictures of food until I'm inspired to create something). Somewhere recently I saw another picture of a vietnamese style steak salad and the idea stuck.

The kids have been obsessed with peanut butter sandwiches lately and that, too, gave me ideas. Funny how things come together like that to create a symphony of flavors.

Need:
Romaine lettuce, shredded
Fresh mint leaves
Julienned carrots
Sliced cucumber
Sliced green mango
Sliced scallions
Lemon juice
S+p
Tri tip steak

Peanut sauce:
1 tsp peanut butter
A splash of soy sauce
A splash of fish sauce
1/4 tsp of sesame oil
A splash of white vinegar
A splash of rice wine
1/2 tsp sugar
Sambal hot sauce, to taste
Garlic powder
1/3 C Vegetable oil

1. For the peanut sauce, throw it all in a food processor and blend til smooth, streaming in vegetable oil while it runs.

2. Toss the lettuce, mint, and scallions together with a bit of lemon juice, s+p.

3. S+p on the steak and grill to desired doneness. Let it rest. Slice it up.

4. Arrange the salad, cucumber, carrots, mango slices around the lettuce. Top with grilled meat. Then add peanut sauce as you like to the top.

For this, I also made some cilantro oil (fancy like that) to drizzle around the plate. I garnished with French fried onions and sliced habanero pepper.