Carmelized Chipotle Chicken

This recipe comes from the September 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine. A friend also posted this recipe on another blog. I immediately knew I wanted to try it.

The original recipe serves 6. I cut the recipe in half, as it was just 3 of us eating. Cutting it in half still left us with plenty of leftovers. With those I plan to make warm chicken salad, once I find a decent recipe for it...

Ingredients: (this is from the original recipe, which I cut in half)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup ketchup
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo (from a 7 oz can)
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 whole chickens (about 3.5 lbs each), each cut into 8 pieces

I used a whole chicken, which I then realized I would have to cut up myself! Yikes. Never done that before. I immediately thought about one of my favorite cookbooks, which has excellent infortmation and instructions on exactly this kind of stuff.

And it again had exactly what I needed. I decided to just split the chicken, as opposed to cutting it into 8 pieces.

I did a pretty decent job!

At this point, I tossed some red potatoes and two smashed cloves of garlic into a pot of salted water. I didn't turn the heat on yet, just wanted to get them in there. I mash these skin and all. Which I will show more of later.

Now here is an excellent tip I learned from watching the Food Network. Wet a paper towel, and lay it on your counter. Then put your cutting board on top of it, that way the board won't slip around as you are working on it. Brilliant.

It really works.

Here are some of the ingredients. Mingling, getting ready to play a part in a beautiful dish!

Heat your oil in a large, heavy, skillet. I got mine about a year ago from Kohl's. One of the best purchases I ever made. I love this thing. It can go from the stovetop, right into the oven.

When the oil is shimmering, toss in the garlic. Stir it constantly, as it can burn quickly. Have you ever tasted burned garlic? That is a horrible flavor that takes days to get rid of!

Once the garlic is golden, transfer it to a bowl or plate with a slotted spoon.

Reduce the heat to medium, and cook the onions. Stir just occasionally, until the onions start to brown.

Now the kitchen is really starting to smell amazing. Of course, I think garlic and onion cooking smells just like heaven. My kind of heaven anyhow.

This is the perfect time to start getting the other ingredients together.

When the onions are done to your liking, add the garlic back in, and then toss in the rest of the ingredients.

Vinegar, worcestershire sauce, cinnamon.

Mustard. I didn't have dijon so I used stone ground mustard.

Brown Sugar

Ketchup

and the chipotles.

Also add a bit of salt and pepper.

Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened. It only took mine about 10 minutes or so. I imagine it would take longer if you used the full recipe.

While waiting for the sauce to thicken, preheat the oven to 450F.

Coat the chicken with half of the reduced sauce. Then roast it, skin side up, for 25 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven, and brush on the rest of the sauce.

Then pop it back into the oven, until it is cooked through, and well browned in some areas. Mine too about 25 minutes or so.

By this point I had boiled the potatoes until they were done, and drained them.

Now get a pen, because these instructions are very specific.

I put in a generous splat of butter, and a hunk of cream cheese. Very scientific measuring going on around here I'll tell ya.

Add some milk, salt, and pepper, and mash them. Or, smash, would be a better term.

It's time to cut up the chicken. I let the man of the house do this, makes him feel like he has a part of making the meal you know.

The spread! Yum.

Enjoy!