Beer-Braised Chicken

Recently, as I was perusing my cookbook magazines, finally, I found a delicious looking recipe in The Food Network Magazine that I have. I thought for sure The Hubble would jump at the sound of this recipe. I mean, it includes beer, which is his favorite food group. Well, he didn't seem all that interested but I decided I would make it anyway. We went grocery shopping and I told him I needed a brown ale. He complained saying that he didn't really like brown ales. As I started cooking dinner, he decided to pop open a beer and try it out. I am happy to announce that he is now a fan of the brown ales. And the fact that this recipe included it...even better! On to the recipe!

As always, gather ingredients first. Let's start our prep work.

Wash the potatoes.

Cut them in half.

Set them aside.

Chop up your parsley, and set it aside.

Cut your bacon into chunks.

Set it aside. Mmmmm....bacon....

Now to the good stuff. Heat your oil in a large pot and throw in the bacon. Mmmmm....bacon...

Continue to stir and cook the bacon until brown...if a little drool falls into the pot no one will notice because: Mmmmm....bacon....

Take a slotted spoon and remove the bacon from the pot.

And place on a paper towel lined plate. Make sure you watch it because thieving fingers are all around and the smell of cooked bacon usually brings them to the places where the cooking happens. The Hubble had red hands a few times from me smacking them while he tried to steal my precious bacon!

Now take your chicken (I trimmed a bunch of the fat off mine) and season them with salt.

And freshly ground pepper.

Then dredge them in flour.

And place a few in the bottom of the pan with the oil and bacon drippings. Cook until golden brown on one side.

Then flip them over to cook the other side. Continue to cook the chicken in this manner in batches.

Until all the chicken is a beautiful golden brown color.

Then put all the cooked chicken back in the pot.

Dump in the potatoes.

Add the onions.

And pour in the beer.

Oh that delicious, frothy, brown ale. Mmmmm....bacon...oh wait. What? Beer! Mmmmm....beer....

Next add the brown sugar and mustard.

And some water, making sure the chicken is entirely submerged.

Stir everything up.

Throw in the bay leaves (these always make pots of juicy goodness taste so much better). Look at that bad chicken trying to peek out! Make sure your chicken is covered so it will cook. Now cover your pot and wait for the magic to happen (that means let it cook and let all the flavors mesh and become one and amazing).

After you have cooked it until the potatoes are done, remove the bay leaves because you don't want to eat leaves...just the flavor of the leaves. Weird no? Trust me. The flavor is awesome!

Now throw in the bacon. Everybody say it with me now. Mmmmm....bacon... Wipe the drool off your chin! There's no time for that now! But seriously, have you ever noticed how bacon makes everything better?? It does.

Toss in your parsley at this point as well.

And stir it all together.

Now you have a steaming pot of YUM!

Serve that bad boy up with a big piece of crusty bread (you have to soak up all the bacony, brown aley, scrumptious juices up with something. It's probably bad form to drink from your bowl and if you are like me you will probably spill it down the front of your shirt anyway. So let's just be safe and sop it up with bread. Enjoy!!

Beer-Braised Chicken
Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound slab or thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 12 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 1/2-3 pounds)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• All-purpose flour, for dredging
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 (12-ounce) bottles beer (preferably brown ale)
• 1/2 bag frozen pearl onions, thawed
• 1-1 1/2 pounds small red-skinned new potatoes, halved
• 4 tablespoons stone ground mustard
• 4 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 5 Bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the oil and bacon and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess. Add the chicken in batches and cook over medium-high heat until golden on the bottom, 6 to 7 minutes, then flip and sear the other side, about 1 minute.
3. Add the beer, onions, potatoes, mustard, sugar, 1 cup water to the pot and stir, making sure the chicken is fully submerged. 
4. Add the bay leaves.
5. Cover and simmer until the chicken and potatoes are cooked through, about 20 minutes. 
6. Discard the bay leaves and stir in the bacon and parsley.
7. Serve and enjoy.