Pan Roasted Chicken, Baby Potato and Sweet Potato in Herbed Cream with Crumb Topping

This is a really lovely recipe and totally company-worthy! It is a perfect dish for when the weather gets colder and you want a recipe that fills the kitchen with a delicious aroma and warms up your body and soul. The crispy crumb topping is a trick my Aunt showed me years ago and goes perfectly with this deliciousness! This dish is a pleasure to serve and a pleasure to eat! Serve with wide egg noodles, rice, corn muffins, a thick slice of crusty bread or on its own with a green salad. Leftovers, if there are any, are delicious too!

Prep time: 20 Minutes / Cook Time: 45 minutes / Number of Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces Bone-in, Skin-on Chicken Thighs

• 6 pieces Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs

• Sea Salt and Pepper - to season the Chicken

• 300 gr (10-14 pieces) Baby Potatoes – cut in half

• 1 large Sweet Potato - cubed

• 3 Shallots – cut in half

• 1 Cooking Onion – Cut into quarters

• 5 cloves of Garlic - sliced

• 1/3 cup Butter – divided

• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

• ¾ cup Heavy Cream

• ½ teaspoon Pepper

• ½ teaspoon Allspice

• ½ teaspoon ground Thyme (Option – 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves)

• ½ teaspoon ground Sage

• ¾ cup Breadcrumbs

How It’s Made

• Preheat your oven to 425°F.

• Prepare a 9”x13” baking dish by greasing the pan and seasoning it with a sprinkle of salt and a grinding of pepper.

• Season chicken all over with 1 teaspoon salt and some grindings of pepper.

• In a large bowl, toss the halved baby potatoes, sweet potato cubes, the halved shallots and the quartered onions. Season with pepper to your taste, no salt needed.

• In a large frying pan, heat 2 Tablespoons of the butter and the olive oil over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the chicken to the pan and cook the chicken, bone-in, skin-on thighs skin side down first, 3-4 minutes until nicely browned. Turn the chicken pieces over and cook until this side is nicely browned.

• While the chicken is cooking, melt the remaining butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisking, until the butter foams and then begins to brown, 3 minutes (or longer depending on your heat). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream, garlic, pepper, allspice, thyme and sage. Return the pan to a low heat and whisk to combine the ingredients. Cook gently until the cream mixture is hot but not boiling.

• Arrange the chicken in the prepared baking dish. Do not discard the butter oil mixture the chicken cooked in the pan! Arrange the baby potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots and onion around the chicken pieces.

• Pour the brown butter herbed cream mixture over the chicken and vegetables. Season with another grinding of pepper, but not salt.

• Carefully put the dish, uncovered, in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Check after 45 minutes. The chicken should be a lovely dark baked colour and the veggies should be soft when poked with a fork or knife. The cream will have reduced and thickened somewhat. Let gratin cool 5–10 minutes.

• While the chicken is cooking in the oven, you are going to make an amazingly simple and utterly delicious crumb topping. If your chicken gave off a lot of fat, drain some of the pan drippings off. You want about ¼ cup of pan drippings. If you don’t have enough, in the same pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the breadcrumbs to the pan drippings and stir to mix the breadcrumbs with the pan drippings (or the newly melted butter and olive oil). Over medium heat, stir the breadcrumbs until they are a nice golden-brown colour – 3-4 minutes (or longer, depending on the heat you have under your pan). Remove from heat and let this crispy crumb mixture cool.

• To serve, spoon pieces of chicken (some people like bone-in and some prefer boneless, some like both!) and a selection of all the veggies onto the plate or a wide soup bowl. Sprinkle the crispy crumbs on top. So good!

Enjoy!

Variations:

• Replace the sweet potatoes with carrots – either baby carrots or whole carrots cut into chunks.

• Include 2 sliced portobello mushrooms to the veggie mix.

• Replace the baby potatoes and sweet potatoes with larger pieces of broccoli florets and cauliflower (too small and they will become mushy cooking in the cream sauce)

• Include chicken drumsticks with the thighs.

• Change up the spices for basil and oregano, instead of the thyme and sage.