This meal is a couple of mistakes piled upon each other. It began with the Chicken. We have come to love the Foster Farms chickens that come in the plastic wrap 6-pack. They are vacuum packed so we just throw them into the freezer and pull out as many as necessary as needed. Each pack has about 3 thighs (although we occasionally get only 2), which is a good portion for us. Anyway, the last time I was at our favorite warehouse membership store I looked into the coffin cooler, saw the word "Thighs" and grabbed a package. It was only last night as I pulled out two packages that I noticed that these were "Boneless, Skinless" thighs, and not the usual bone-in, skin-on that we usually like. Mistake number 1. The second mistake was that the previous night when I started thinking about what to make for dinner, the missus pulled a bag of split peas out of the pantry and suggested I use them. I'm pretty sure she said Split-peas, but for some reason I googled "Chicken Lentil." After some searching I came upon a recipe that sounded pretty good. All the recipes kept on talking about red lentils or brown lentils, but never mentioned green lentils. Undaunted, I carried on.
The recipe didn't call for bacon, but what recipe isn't better with Bacon? So I started with two rashers (I love that word) of bacon, chopped. Once the bacon browned and released its fat, I fished them out and browned half the chicken, about 4 minutes each side. I fished out the first batch and then browned the second.
After the chicken was done, I browned one large onion, chopped thin and then two small carrots, also chopped thin. When they were nice and soft, I threw in 2 cloves of minced garlic and stirred for about 30 seconds before adding one can of chicken broth and about 1 cup of the split peas that I had been soaking in warm water. I brought that to a boil and then simmered for about 25 minutes.
I then added the chicken, bacon and accumulated juices, along with some Cumin, Basil and a can of diced tomatoes. I wanted this to thicken a bit so I simmered, uncovered for about a half an hour. Season with Salt and Pepper and voila. The result was a chicken stew of sorts. I served with some slices of crusty bread and mashed potatoes. This would probably be better on a cold winters night but wasn't bad for a summer dinner.
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