Roasted Chicken Thighs with Couscous

After a long day of work Thursday I still wanted to cook dinner, but didn’t want to be in the kitchen for too long, I was much too hungry.  I had defrosted a 4-pack of bone-in chicken thighs from Costco, so I decided to make those with my new favorite couscous recipe, thanks to my friend over at the Glass of Milk kitchen.  

Here’s the breakdown…

Val’s Bavarian Chicken Thighs:

• 4 chicken thighs (or more, depending on how many you are cooking for)
• Bavarian Seasoning (Penzy’s brand, or any similar spice blend)
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  Place rinsed and dried chicken thighs in an oven safe small-ish roasting pan (I used my new Le Creuset rectangular baker, which was thrilling…)  Drizzle olive oil on chicken and season generously with Bavarian Seasoning and salt & pepper.  Place in your oven on the middle rack and roast uncovered for approximately 40 minutes – mine took about 45, but de-boned thighs would take closer to 35 minutes.  The signal they are ready is when they are just beginning to brown and pulling from the pan slightly.

Couscous with Pine Nuts:

Like my girl Ina says in her newest cookbook, “if you can boil a pot of water, you can make couscous” and that is really how easy this recipe is.  I made an adaptation or two, but this is a great stand-by side dish, and I promise it does not disappoint.

• 3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter (depending on how much butter you like)
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup capers, drained (this is my addition, I love the acidity and depth of flavor the capers add)
• 2 cups chicken stock (Ina calls for 3, but 2 is plenty)
• 1/2 teaspoon each of salt & pepper
• 1 1/2 cups couscous
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 cup dried currants (or cranberries if you don’t have currants)
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• freshly grated parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Add shallots and cook over medium heat for around 3 minutes, until translucent.  Add capers and cook for a minute more.  Add chicken stock, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Add couscous, stir, cover and remove from heat.  Let sit for 5-7 minutes.  While couscous is sitting, toast your pine nuts: place them in a dry saute pan or skillet and cook over low-meduim heat for 5-7 minutes, tossing often until lightly browned.

Fluff couscous, add pine nuts, currants and parsley.  Plop a nice heaping spoonful on a plate with a chicken thigh or two, add some fresh parmesan cheese and enjoy!

This makes plenty for 2 people plus extra for leftovers!