Braised Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

We'll return to San Diego shortly, but in the meantime let's dive into some more chicken. Like so many of our family favorite recipes, this one happened by accident. A few weeks ago, Ariel was on her way home from a work trip and it was up to me to have dinner ready when she arrived. I had some chicken and not a lot else. I was thinking about making chicken chasseur again, but didn't have any tomatoes. What I did find was a jar of mixed dried mushrooms. These have a ton of flavor and are a great thing to have on hand. This particular jar came from World Market. The dish came together beautifully, and this is my best attempt to recreate it. 

This recipe utilizes one of my favorite tricks, which I haven't featured on the blog before. I got the idea of using Parmesan rinds in soups and braises from Kenji's "Tuscan" bean soup recipe, which imparts some extra flavor as the sauce cooks. Every time I buy a wedge of Parmesan, I cut the rinds off and freeze them so they are ready to go any time. Similarly, whenever I use chicken thighs, I trim off the excess skin and save it to make schmaltz. Whenever I use shrimp, I save the shells to make soup. There's flavor hiding in these scraps - don't throw them away!

One last note: this is the first post using our beautiful new dishes from our wedding registry! The color is a nice contrast for this decidedly brown dish.

Ingredients

• 4-6 chicken thighs
• 1 large onion, sliced into strips
• 5 cloves garlic (adjust to taste), minced
• 2 Tbs flour
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup (about 50 g) dried mushrooms (I used a mix of oyster, shiitake, porcini, and black trumpet)
• 4 inch piece (about 50 g) Parmesan rinds
• 1 lb dry pasta
• Olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

Instructions

Trim excess skin from chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper. In a large sauté pan or similar vessel, heat a little olive oil on medium-high heat. Cook the chicken, starting skin side down, until browned on both sides and the skin has rendered. Remove chicken and set aside, but do not drain the pan.

Drop heat to medium and add the sliced onion to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened. 

Add garlic, stir together, and cook another minute. Add the flour, stir together, and cook another minute. Deglaze the plan with wine, scraping up the bottom of the pan. Reduce briefly, then add the chicken stock. Stir in the oregano, bay leaf, mushrooms, and Parmesan rinds. Place the chicken back in the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. Simmer for about 40 minutes. 

While the chicken cooks, cook the pasta. You can undercook it a bit, as it will finish in the sauce. When the chicken is done, remove from the pan and set aside. Turn the heat up to high and reduce to desired thickness, about 5 minutes. For the last minute, add the pasta to the pan and toss until well coated. 

Serve with grated Parmesan and bread.