Chicken Broiled In Wine With Garlic

Chicken Broiled In Wine With Garlic

As much as I love steaks and chops, I also love chicken too. I often get a taste for it. Sometimes I don't get the taste I was expecting. I remember one night about a year ago, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from the office and bought a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, as well as some broccoli to fix for dinner.

On the way home, I was wondering why the broccoli was so pungent. The car had a slightly unpleasant oder. When I got home, I put some rice on the stove and started to prepare the chicken. I like the boneless chicken thighs because they open up and cook quickly. 

Well I opened the chicken package and discovered it wasn’t the broccoli that smelled bad. The chicken had a sour, kind of rank smell. 

I always check the freshness date of meat when I buy it. This chicken’s date was still several days out, not close to being on the ‘reduced for quick sale’ label. Well, I was hungry and the rice was almost cooked. I decided to wash the chicken and cook it thoroughly. 

I know what you are thinking, this story is going to have a bad ending with frequent trips to the bathroom. Nope, I was fine. The thing is that the chicken still tasted a little strange even with all the garlic. But, I ate it all and despite the hint of yuk, it tasted pretty good. I think if you use chicken that isn’t spoiled, you will really like this dish. If the chicken does have that spoiled smell, double the garlic. Maybe that will mask the off flavors.

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

(preferably still fresh)

Cajun seasoning

Olive oil

4 large cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Fresh ground white pepper

Soy sauce

1 cup white wine

Preparation

Season the chicken thighs with cajun seasoning on both sides. Heat a skillet until hot. Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Sear the chicken on one side for about a minute. Turn them over and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Let it sear for another minute. Add the white wine and a dash of soy sauce. Bring the liquid to a boil. Sprinkle it with white pepper and place the skillet under a hot broiler.

When the chicken starts to brown on top, remove the skillet, turn the chicken over and return it to the broiler. Once it is browned nicely on that side, your chicken is ready to serve.

Serving

To serve your chicken, place a couple of the chicken pieces on a plate next to a big pile of rice. Spoon plenty of the cooking liquid (with the garlic of course) over both the chicken and rice. Add a big pile of steamed, buttered broccoli. Now with a crisp salad, fresh baked bread and butter you are on your way to a good meal. All you need is an ice cold bottle of Vinho Verde from Portugal and you are good to go. Maybe have a little Alka Seltzer available if you did start out with spoiled chicken, just in case.