Comfort Food Friday

Happy Friday! The temperature continues to drop which only elevates my desire for comfort food. Previously I posted a recipe for Mac N Cheese and today I am going to share a recipe with you for Braised Chicken Legs. The dish is a real crowd pleaser in my house and it is easy to make which really pleases me. The recipe from Alex Guarnaschelli is one that Food and Wine Magazine featured years ago. I have made a few tweaks over the years to match my family's tastes, it remains basically the same though.

Here is the recipe.

Download Recipe

Following I have put the recipe into pictures.

These are all of the ingredients you will need.

The first thing I do is slice the onions.

Next I grate the fresh ginger into a bowl and add the garlic, cinnamon sticks, crushed red pepper flakes, and bay leaves to the bowl. This makes it very easy to add all of these ingredients at once when you reach that step.

Next I season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides before browning it.

Here is half the chicken added to the canola oil for browning.

This is the remainder of the chicken browning with the first batch back on the plate.

After I pour out the chicken fat and add the remainder of the canola oil I cook the cumin seed for ten seconds, stirring the entire time.

It is then time to add the sliced onions. I stir them up to mix in the cumin seeds so those do not burn and stick to the bottom of the pan.

After the onions have cooked and softened for about five minutes I add in the bowl of flavor ingredients.

After the onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and red pepper flakes have all cooked together for a few minutes it is time to add the red wine.

After the red wine has simmered for about five minutes it is time to add the chicken stock and the tomatoes.

I like to pour in the entire cans of tomatoes and break the tomatoes up a bit with a wooden spoon. If you prefer, you could chop up the tomatoes first - just make sure you reserve all of the liquid and add it to the pan too.

After the sauce has simmered for about ten minutes it is time to add the chicken.

Once the chicken is all in the pot, cover and simmer for at least an hour. The longer you cook it, the more tender and flavorful the chicken. It helps to turn the chicken over a few times while cooking too to enhance the flavor.

It basically looks like this when it is all done and served over steamed white rice. The chicken was falling off the bone so it is a little difficult to make out the chicken pieces in this picture.

This recipe serves four to six people and has a slight kick, not too much though, just the right amount, I think. I recommend it for dinner on a cold evening. If you give it a try, please let me know what you think.

I will be back for Manic Monday. Happy Weekend.

Thank you for visiting today,

Kerry