Pan-Roasted Chicken with Leeks and Green Beans

Today is Tuesday.

This dinner was sooo good. I made pan-roasted chicken drumsticks. I wish everyone would give bone-in chicken more of a chance. It’s so much more flavorful, and it’s less expensive. I picked this particular recipe for two reasons: 1) It calls for leeks and I bought leeks on a whim yesterday– they were the last bunch left and something about that made me think they were a hot button item I had to snatch up for myself– even though they were not on sale. And 2) It calls for bacon. Now that my husband is working from home, he keeps taking out pounds of bacon every other day or so. It’s always just sitting there in the fridge, which it never used to be. Leeks + bacon = delicious flavor. Done and done.

Reprinted with permission from Food Network Magazine.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Leeks and Green Beans

Active Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 lb. green beans, ends trimmed (I ended up incorporating our side into our main.)

3 slices bacon, cut into ½ in. pieces

8 chicken drumsticks (about 2 lbs.) I used 10 for my family.

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

3 cloves garlic, smashed I used the bottom of a glass.

1 bunch leeks, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced

2 T. all-purpose flour

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

½ cup half-and-half

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

Lemon wedges, for serving

This is a leek. Use the part from rubber band, down. Wash leeks well, they are dirty.

Instructions

- I started a pot of boiling salted water for the green beans right before I preheated the oven. I boiled the green beans for 5 minutes and then put them in an ice bath until I could decide what to do with them. -

1) Preheat the oven to 425°F. Put the bacon in a large heavy-bottom ovenproof skillet and cook over medium-high heat until some of the fat renders, about 5 minutes. Push the bacon to the side of the pan. Note: push it FAR to the side. I burned mine and had to render more later.

2) Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then add it to the pan and cook, turning, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and leeks, then arrange the chicken on top of the bacon-leek mixture. Transfer to the oven and roast until the chicken is golden and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 160°F, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. I am unfortunately between meat thermometers right now because I broiled mine, so I checked at 20 minutes and popped it in for 2 more minutes, and it was perfect. Check by slicing down near the bone.

3) Carefully return the skillet to the stove top, over medium-high heat. This is when I rendered a few more pieces of bacon since I burned mine. Then I drained and added in the green beans and let them cook, gathering all those delicious flavors, for about 2 minutes.

4 Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  Add the broth and half-and-half and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. It makes an amazing gravy. Stir in the parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice. Spoon the leek mixture over the chicken. Serve with the remaining lemon wedges, which I forgot to do.