What do you make when using chicken thighs?

[Bohica]

I have a large pack of them and not a clue what to do with them.

I fancy a casserole but would that mean roasting and de-boning them first?

Roast them with potatoes and root veg and glaze of orange juice, orange zest, honey and rosemary.

You can certainly hurl them in a casserole without roasting and deboning first - look on the good food web site - think you can search by main ingredient.

I made this last week, tasted amazing!

I make Delia's Coq au Vin using just thighs. It works very well. The bones just add to the rich flavour.

Same with her Chicken Basque - one of DH's favourites.

have started using them for kids meals after a sort of ready steady cook moment round at my friends house when we were staring in the fridge looking for something all the kids would eat. Stick the legs on baking tray and drizzle with oil to cook them. When done pull the meat off them and put it through pasta with whatever else you like - brocoli, butter and parmasan in our case, which startlingly even my fussy eated loved. I only mention it because I am still strangely pleased by how much cheaper it is to feed them decent chicken this way.

This may show my general chicken leg-esque naivety- but I am veggie myself so hadnt occured to me to use legs instead of breast meat.

This is lovely

I use them for curry and various chicken casseroles

I season them and toss them in olive oil with whole unpeeled cloves of garlic and potatoes cut into wedges. Tuck a few thick slices of lemon in and cook at 190 for about 40 minutes, giving a shake half way through. About ten minutes before end of cooking throw a dozen or so whole basil leaves over.

Lovely with a simple salad and lots of crusty bread to mop up the juices.

I also tend to use chicken thighs skinned and boned to make chicken satay and teriyaki chicken. I have done whole thighs for the satay before and it was delicious.

For the satay marinade whizz with a stick blender the following: (enough for 6-8 thighs)

2 shallots/one small onion
1 clove garlic
2cm bit of ginger
couple of tbls olive oil
½ teaspoon each of ground coriander, ground cumin and turmeric
½ teaspoon salt
1tsp brown sugar (not vital, white's fine)
1 tbls sweet chilli sauce.

Slash the chicken thighs a couple of times each and then rub the marinade all over - I pop them all in a freezer bag. Leave overnight/24 hours.

Heat pan up to hot, sear the thighs nicely on all sides and then pop in the oven at 180 for about 30 minutes.

My cheaty satay sauce:

1 shallot, finely chopped
1 fat clove garlic, crushed
2cm bit of ginger, grated
5 tbls chunky peanut butter
1tsp soya sauce
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce.

Soften the shallot, garlic and ginger fro a couple of minutes then stir in the rest. Simmer very gently for 5 mins. Add a splash of water if too thick. Freezes well if too much.

Honey and mustard chicken with parsnips from the BBC good food website works really well with chicken thighs.

So do those roast in a bag seasoning things that are all the fashion at the moment.

maple chicken - serve with coleslaw and pasta/rice salad

the only thing I use chicken thighs for is slow cooker curry.

Try this -rosemary chicken - a big favourite in my house. I serve it with mash.

teeny mini roasts...bone them and put stuffing in, secure with a cocktail stick and into the oven in a tray

also you can bone them and replace the bone with a stick of cheese wrapped in ham...and again into the oven on a tray. Sometimes the cheese all melts out, but it's still yummy.