Last night I was in the weeds: it was five o’clock, we had dinner guests coming at seven, and I had eight chicken thighs, a bag of farro, two Delicata squash, kale, and some bacon. Two Google searches later — one that landed me on a Thomas Keller recipe for Farro and Black Rice with Roasted Autumn Squash, one that landed me on Lidey Heuck’s Baked Chicken Thighs — I had a plan and I was off to the races.
Step one: the squash. I loved Thomas Keller’s idea to sauté squash cubes in brown butter and to finish them in a hot oven on a cookie sheet.
Keller’s larger recipe — which comes from Ad Hoc at Home and is so convoluted with dozens of pans and steps and stages — felt more like a training course for a job at The French Laundry than something a normal person would make at home. For example: he has you cook three different kinds of squash on three different cookie sheets, sautéing each squash in butter first in stages. Babe, nobody has time for all that! One kind of squash is totally fine for a home cook.
As for the farro, I just cooked it according to package instructions. Instead of adding Dandelion greens, per Keller’s recipe, I added some shredded Tuscan kale — letting it cook down with the farro during the final few minutes of cooking
The coolest part about this recipe is that you cook bacon until it’s rendered, then you use the bacon fat to make a dressing. Now that’s a bit of Keller genius we can all be grateful for! To the bacon fat you add Dijon and oil, I also added some maple syrup (am I one-upping a Michelin-starred chef?) and olive oil instead of neutral oil because I’m bad like that.
Already when you stir that in, it tastes pretty fab: with the nutty farro, the earthy kale, and the bright acidic dressing. But then comes the squash and the bacon.
I mean this could be dinner in and of itself (it might actually be today’s lunch). But seeing as this was for a dinner party, I felt like we needed protein. So I got the gist of Lidey Heuck’s recipe and riffed on it: I whisked together a big spoonful of Dijon with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence. Then I tossed the chicken thighs in there, spread them on a cookie sheet, and roasted at 425 for 30 minutes until golden brown all over and at an internal temperature of 170.
This is such a great trick to have up your sleeve: crispy, golden, mustardy chicken thighs in thirty minutes? Sign me up!
For being in the weeds, I’d say this dinner came out way better than expected. And what a perfect pairing for the change in the weather; it was 49 degrees last night. If there’s a better beginning-of-autumn dinner out there, I’d like to see it
Mustardy Chicken Thighs with Farro, Brown Butter Squash, Kale, and Bacon
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 425.
- In a large non-stick skillet, cook the butter on medium-high heat until it turns brown and smells a bit nutty. Add all of your squash, a big pinch of salt, and toss all around, getting everything coated for a few minutes.
- Transfer the squash to a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for fifteen minutes, checking after ten minutes, until the squash is golden brown all over. Set aside.
- Add your farro to the chicken broth in a large pot with a big pinch of salt, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 25 minutes until all of the broth is absorbed and the farro is tender (you should adjust the heat to ensure the broth doesn’t evaporate too fast). Towards the end of cooking, stir in the kale with another pinch of salt, allowing it to wilt in with the farro.
- Wipe out the non-stick skillet you used for the squash and add the bacon lardons. Add a splash of vegetable oil to help it to start to render. Cook on medium heat for several minutes until the bacon is crisp and has rendered most of its fat. Lift the bacon on to a paper towel-lined plate, and pour the fat into a measuring glass.
- When the fat has cooled a little, whisk in the Dijon, vinegar, syrup, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and the olive oil. Dip your finger in and taste; if its too astringent, add more oil.
- Pour the dressing all over the farro and stir. Taste; if it needs more acid, add another splash of vinegar; also adjust for salt. Stir in the reserved squash and bacon, taste again to adjust, then set aside.
- Maintain the oven at 425.
- Whisk together the Dijon, the olive oil, salt, Herbes de Provence, and a few grinds of pepper in a large bowl. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, add to the bowl, and toss all around making sure each piece gets coated with the mixture.
- Place the thighs, skin-side up, on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper, and roast for 30 minutes until a thermometer reads 170 and the thighs are golden brown all over.
- To finish, spoon some farro onto each plate, top with two pieces of chicken, and serve with a lemon wedge.
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