Jalapeno Pear Chicken Thighs

As supplies dwindle and we begin to muster up the energy to go food shopping I love whipping up a dinner with what's left in our cold and lonely fridge. Once again just "winging" it came out to be a delicious surprise.

Jalapeno Pear Chicken Thighs
(Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs with the skin
• 1 Bosc pear, cored and quartered
• 2 carrots, sliced into rounds
• 1/4 red onion, thickly sliced
• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/4 extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. On the stove heat a medium/large Dutch Oven.
3. Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Once the olive oil becomes fragrant, place the chicken thighs skin side down into the pan. Make sure the pan is large enough so the thighs don't overlap one another. Brown the chicken.
5. When the thighs release easily from the pan and the skin is crispy and golden, flip them over.
6. Add the sliced onion, jalapeno, carrots, and pear.
7. Pour in the wine. Season with salt and pepper.
   
8. Toss in the thyme sprigs (don't bother removing the leaves from the twiggy stems, they will come apart during cooking and you can remove the stems later).
9. Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Cook for 1 hour.
10. In an hour pull the pot out of the oven and uncover. Vegetables should be tender and chicken should "fall off the bone".
11. Place one chicken thigh and one wedge of pear on each plate. Remove the thyme stems and, using a slotted spoon, scoop out the veggies. Divide them evenly among the four servings.
12. Serve it up!
    

Note: Don't throw away that chicken fat left in the pot. Let is cool slightly and put it in a container to save for when you make a meat tomato sauce!

Alternative

• If you don't want all the fat from the chicken skin, feel free to remove it. However, you will want to add a touch more olive oil to brown the chicken.