A Hungry Bear

Chicken thighs are cheap, but I’m always at a loss for how to make them. Recently I’ve been searching for new ways to try them, and found a recipe on foodblogsearch.com that was really compelling (3 exclamation points convinced me). I made some modifications, but it’s basically just chicken thighs rolled around a spoonful of olive tapenade, roasted and then served with a simple roasted red pepper sauce on top. Something about the preparation made this the juiciest chicken I think I’ve ever had - maybe the saltiness of the olives in the center brings out the juices like a brine? And considering it only took about 15 minutes of active prep time, I can agree with the What Geeks Eat author that this recipe is a must-try (!!!).

Note: adapted from this recipe, which had a different sauce and made double the amount featured below.

Grocery list: about 10 chicken thighs (2-3 pounds), 20 pitted kalamata olives, 2-3 roasted red peppers (fresh or from a jar), 5-6 fresh basil leaves, 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, 2-3 cloves garlic, handful of fresh parsley, olive oil.

While the oven is preheating to 375 degrees, start making the tapenade for the filling.

In a food processor, pulse the olives and garlic cloves for a few seconds..

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the parsley and thyme leaves. Pulse for another couple seconds to get an even consistency.

Measure out 1/4 cup of olive oil.

With the food processor running, pour the oil into the feed tube. Scrape the tapenade into a bowl and set aside.

Next time I will make the effort of de-boning the chicken thighs (or actually splurge for the boneless skinless kind, paying $2/pound for the butcher to do the work for me). Because of the bone, the chicken couldn’t stay rolled up on its own - in the original recipe, it says you can simply roll the chicken thigh around a spoonful of filling and lay it seam side down. I used some butcher’s twine to keep the chicken rolled up, so that the salty tapenade would touch as much chicken as possible when it was cooking. I’ll save you the step by step photos of the raw chicken, other than showing how they looked when I finished stuffing them. 1-2 teaspooons of tapenade per chicken thigh should still leave you with about half a cup of olive tapenade, which you can use to make the red pepper sauce later.

Bake the chicken for 35-40 minutes at 375, or until done (use a meat thermometer - not touching bone or olive filling - should be 165 degrees when it’s done).

To make the red pepper sauce for the topping, you’ll need the leftover tapenade, a few basil leaves, and a jar of roasted red peppers.

Drain 2 or 3 large roasted red peppers and pulse in the food processor until they are an even consistency.

Put in the olive tapenade plus the basil leaves, and pulse for another second or two. To serve, just scoop some red pepper sauce over each piece of chicken when you plate it.