Pan Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms, Onions, and Rosemary

(Makes 4 servings, adapted from Eat This Book by Tyler Florence. )

8 chicken thighs with skin on and bone in
salt/pepper to season chicken (I used Vege-Sal)
1-2 T olive oil (depending on your pan)
1 red onion chopped in 1 1/2 inch pieces
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
fresh rosemary springs (I used about 10 sprigs)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Trim chicken thighs very well, removing most of the skin and as much of the fat as you can, including the pocket of hidden fat on the back side of each thigh. Leave enough skin to cover the top side of each thigh. Season thighs well on both sides with salt and pepper. (You could also use skinless chicken if you prefer.)

Heat large frying pan, add olive oil, and brown chicken very well on both sides. Don't rush this step, I browned my chicken for about 10 minutes.

Remove chicken from frying pan and place in glass casserole dish. (The original recipe called for the chicken to be roasted in the frying pan, but I didn't have a frying pan which can go in the oven.) Pour out most of the fat from the pan, then put onions in and saute 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute 2 minutes more. Mix in rosemary. (Keep the sprigs fairly large so you can pick them out when the dish is cooked.)

Pour mushrooms and onions over chicken pieces. Roast 40-45 minutes, until chicken and veggies are done and your house is smelling delightfully of rosemary.

The original recipe called for removing the chicken and veggies to a plate and keeping them warm while you make a sauce with the juice left in the pan. Tyler Florence boiled down the liquid (after removing some of the fat), then added some water and lemon juice. I thought the liquid that was left tasted great just like it was, especially since I had trimmed off most of the fat before I cooked my chicken.

Makes 4 servings (you could easily cut this in half and only eat 1 thigh), you could also use boneless/skinless to cut calories and fat. This is a once-in-a-while treat

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user JAGH2009.