Dinner Experiment

Earlier today, I found myself at the grocery store, with no real idea of what I wanted to make for dinner tonight.  I decided to let the 'you better cook it and eat it today' discount meat shelf be my guide.  A couple of packages of chicken thighs marked down to $1.50 a pound seemed to be the best choice.

My normal plan with chicken thighs is seasoning them well(garlic powder, cumin, paprika) and then bake them low and slow, until the meat falls off the bone...then the meat can be used in any number of applications. 

I didn't feel like doing that though.  Instead, I used the wonder that is modern technology to find myself a solution.  I used Safeway's Wi-Fi and my magical phone to access Foodgawker(one of my top three places for recipes, along with Brigid and Alton Brown), and picked this recipe for Crispy Chicken Thighs with Prunes. 

Wow....you really can't see the rice on that plate.

Now...the trained eye might recognize that those aren't prunes on that chicken.  Correct.  I guess you could actually say I was inspired by that recipe rather than following it 100%.  Instead of buying prunes, I already had dried apples and cranberries at home...and instead of opening a bottle of brandy, I used some amaretto and huckleberry cordial.  I think I actually liked the almond overtones that the amaretto added. 

The ultimate grading of the recipe came from my family, who approved so much that 4 chicken thighs was barely enough to go around.  I was kind of hoping I would get to 'help' my daughters finish their chicken, but no luck...although my wife did let me have half of her crisped chicken skin.  The fact that she ate any of it proves how good it was.