It’s been a strange spring.
The first two weeks of April were very warm with brilliant sunshine everyday. I planted the onions, shallots, radishes and chard and watered every day. My tomato and squash seedlings basked in the sun on the balcony every afternoon.
The last two weeks have been cold with wind and rain every day. My seedlings are stuck inside with the rest of us and I’m hoping my onions and shallots don’t rot before they have a chance to grow.
Although spring is half over it hasn’t seemed real this year.
I brought my spring clothes from the back to the front of the closet but haven’t worn anything. The light-weight sweaters and pastel jeans can be packed away again. It will be summer by the time I need something other than gardening or work-out clothes.
I’ve missed all the normal spring markers: no artichokes or asparagus or green garlic for us this year. By the time the markets open back up we’ll be looking at salad greens and early tomatoes.
Don’t misunderstand…. whatever we can get will be wonderful. It just feels like I went to sleep at the beginning of March and am waking up in the middle of May.
Waking up is good.
So are these easy chicken thighs – skillet, not slow cooker.
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PrintChicken Thighs, White Wine & Balsamic Vinegar Sauce
If you can get boneless, skinless chicken thighs this is a snap to make. If you have to skin them, as I do, see notes.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs, skinless
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120gr) chicken stock
- 1/2 cup (4oz, 120gr) white wine
- 3 tbs Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbs tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp marjoram
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs cornstarch (corn flour, maizena) dissolved in 2 tbs water
Instructions
- Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add chicken thighs and brown lightly on both sides, about 5 minutes.
- Add onion, garlic and sauté 5 minutes longer.
- Add stock, wine, vinegar, tomato paste, herbs and stir to combine.
- Turn the thighs once or twice to coat with sauce.
- Cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
- To finish:
- Remove thighs to a small platter or 2 plates.
- Increase heat under sauce, add cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened and clear.
- Spoon over chicken thighs and serve.
Notes
Skinning chicken thighs is easy: find the side where your fingers can easily slip under the skin. Grip the skin and pull off to the opposite side then cut off with a sharp knife.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 recipe
- Calories: 555
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 319.6 mg
- Fat: 19.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.4 g
- Trans Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 19 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 61.5 g
- Cholesterol: 280.1 mg
Keywords: chicken thighs, balsamic vinegar sauce, skillet chicken
My last photos from my spring cleaning effort.
I won’t bother with photos of the clean house because with dog and humans and mowing and rain the whole ‘clean house’ thing was fleeting.
I spent a wonderful few days with my books – the paperback and cheap hardcover novels that I find even harder to part with than my cook books.
These are the ones I’m keeping…. most of them anyway. There is a small bookcase on another wall that is stuffed rather full of more paperbacks.
These are the ones I’m getting rid of:
I didn’t do too well, did I…..
I got rid of as many as I’ve bought over the last 2 years so at least I’m staying even.
At least half of the books I buy now, and for the past several years, are e-books. But the books I buy for my book club are normally the same price whether new paperbacks or e-books. When that’s the case I buy used paper-backs. Market place on Amazon is great for used paperbacks.
Why, you may wonder, do I keep so many books that I have already read?
I re-read.
If the book is good I’ll re-read it at least once. Many of the books on those shelves have been re-read 5 or 6 or 7 times. Many of them are 20 or 30 years old…. or even older.
They’re like old friends. I pick them up and the story goes through my mind. If it suits my mood I start reading it…. again
How can I toss out old friends?
BTW – Happy May Day!
Oh, my! Bookshelves after my own heart! I have enough packed away right now to fill four of those, I think. I go into the storage area over the garage and sort through the boxes until I find one of my old friends as well, read it again, then tuck it away. I have no room for that many bookshelves anymore after downsizing by 1000 square feet. Oh, I had grand plans! But they don’t always materialize *sigh* Hubs usually gets in the way.
Did you roll the chicken thighs? They look delicious! Other than that, the onions I didn’t pick last year are growing like weeds even though day before yesterday was the first nice day in weeks. I got a bit of yardwork done, but not enough so tomorrow, I’ll be out there all day. I ordered my vegetable plants, but the ground is way too cold still. They’d all die from shock.
My ‘good’ books are in book cases in the dining room lol. I’ve gotten rid of quite a few in the past few years… Books I’ve reread 3 or 4 times and, after the last time, knew I wouldn’t again. I wish I could put them all on my Kindle – but then I wouldn’t be able to look at them so I’m glad I can’t.
No, I didn’t roll them – that’s just their shape. They do have the bone in.I love Balsamic in almost anything.
I love book shelves full of books…and sadly they are becoming a rarity in homes. I have so many in storage in Melbourne because I too could not face parting from them
I would miss my books…. But you can visit when you’re there. It must be rough being in lockdown without them – or at least some of them.