Thighs Add More Flavor To Chicken With Chorizo

Believe it or not, science hasn’t isolated the gene for making chicken breasts. It just seems that way, since chicken breasts dominate the poultry counter.

Chicken breast is a popular purchase. It’s sold skin on (for the reckless at heart), skinless and thinly sliced for stir-fry. The speed with which it cooks has made it a staple in one- or two-person households.

Unfortunately, what it offers in convenience, it lacks in flavor. But processors are selling a chicken cut that is just as quick-cooking and twice as tasty. Call it the other dark meat.

It’s boneless, skinless chicken thighs. If the product is available in your market, I strongly recommend it. (Chicken thigh meat has twice the fat of a comparable serving of chicken breast, but still less than most beef selections.)

Chicken thigh meat is marvelous in a stew. Onions, garlic and spices bring out its natural rich flavor. To demonstrate, the following dish combines chicken thighs and spicy chorizo sausage in a variation of picadillo, a Mexican ground beef dish. It is sweet, pungent and zesty. Team it with Jicama and Spinach Salad.

Chicken with Chorizo

2 tablespoons dark raisins

3/4 cup boiling chicken broth

1 tablespoon oil

1 small onion, diced

1 small sweet red pepper, cored, seeded and diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 jalapeno chile, cored, seeded and minced

1 medium cinnamon stick

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 large or 4 small skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1/4 pound chorizo, sliced

1/2 cup tomato puree

Freshly ground black pepper

Cooked rice

Soak raisins and boiling chicken broth in heatproof bowl 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet. Add onion, sweet red pepper, garlic, jalapeno, cinnamon stick and cumin and saute 5 minutes. Add chicken thighs and saute over medium heat 5 minutes. Add chorizo and brown. Pour off fat. Remove cinnamon stick.

Increase to high heat and add raisins and chicken broth, stirring to scrape up browned bits. Cook until liquid is reduced by half. Add tomato puree. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Season to taste with pepper. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Yield: 2 servings.

Jicama and Spinach Salad

2 cups torn spinach leaves

1 cup peeled jicama, cut into matchsticksize pieces

1/4 cup diced red onion

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon oil

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon hot chile powder

Salt, freshly ground white pepper

Combine spinach, jicama and onion in salad bowl. Toss gently.

Stir together lime juice, honey, oil, cumin, chile powder and salt and pepper to taste in cup. Just before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss well.

Yield: 2 servings.