Today, I am trying a new recipe for a “one pot” dinner idea for chicken that is easy and yummy. Serve with left over rice or toast.
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds of chicken thighs (about 8 or 9)
- Penzeys 4/S Salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
- 3 tablespoons anchovy paste
- 1 teaspoon ground dried chipotle
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs of fresh oregano
- 2-3 bay leaves
- Zest of one lemon
- 3/4 cup of pitted and sliced olives
This recipe requires a lot of hot charcoal. I used our big chimney of as the platform for searing the chicken, sautéing onions, and making the sauce. If I had one of Dennis’ cook stations, I wouldn’t have worried about the big 14″ Dutch oven toppling over. Be prepared to fire up a lot of charcoal to keep this recipe going!
Trim excess skin and fat from chicken, leaving the top layer of skin on the chicken thighs. Lay chicken thighs out on a big platter and liberally sprinkle with Penzey’s salt on both sides. If you don’t have Penzey’s, use salt and pepper.
Place a 14-inch camp Dutch oven over a pile of smoking hot charcoal. Add oil wait until it starts to shimmer (it is HOT!), then and lay chicken thighs skin side DOWN in oil, sputtering and spitting in the hot oil. Do not move the chicken so the skin browns and crisps up – about five minutes.
Remove the chicken and set aside in a large platter. Cover with foil to keep it warm while you make the sauce.
Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat in the bottom of the oven. Add onions and sauté until soft and slightly brown. Add garlic, anchovy paste, chipotle and stir for about a minute until ingredients are combined and no clumps of chipotle are are present. Don’t be tempted to leave out the anchovy paste! I promise you will not taste the little fishes at all. The anchovy adds extra umami (one of five different types of taste) which adds depth of flavor to the recipe along with the tomato paste, white wine, and olives. 
Add wine and deglaze, scraping with a wooden spoon to get any yummy brown bits off of the bottom of the oven. Then add chicken stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, and bay leaves then stir until tomato paste isn’t a big clump. Lay fresh oregano and fresh thyme on top. (If you tie the fresh herbs together, it will make retrieving their stems easier at the end.) Bring sauce up to a slow simmer.
Add chicken thighs and submerge in the sauce. Bring to a simmer. 
Add lid and bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. Chicken is done when the meat is falling off the bones and a fork easily pierces the meat to the bone. At the very end, just before serving, add zest of lemon and olives. Stir. The sauce will be thick after reducing in volume by about half. Remove the bay leaves and stems from the oregano and thyme.
Enjoy!
