Pan-seared Chicken Thighs with Beer and Grainy Mustard Sauce

Tonight’s dinner probably would not have been made except for the misleading title, pan-seared. This came from Dec/Jan Fine Cooking and Jim who is currently cleaning up all the counters and the oven will tell you this is fried chicken and gravy. Serves 4
Ingredients:
8 small bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (I used 4 as the ones Jim bought were huge)
Salt and pepper
2t vegetable oil
2 medium shallots, minced
1 ½ t all-purpose flour (I use Wonder Flour)
1 C amber lager
½ C chicken broth
1 ½ T pure maple syrup
½ t fresh thyme
1 T whole-grain mustard
2T unsalted butter
Directions:
1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 475 degrees.
2. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and trim excess skin.
3. Heat the oil in a 12” skillet over med-high heat until shimmering hot. Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Arrange the chicken in the pan skin side down in a single layer. ( I used a larger pan for just 4, Julia says crowd the pan and they will not brown) Have a spatter screen on hand the minute you are putting the first piece of chicken in. Cook 7 minutes and turn over.
4. Place the chicken and screen in the oven and cook for an additional 8 minutes, until it is 170 degrees. As ours were larger it took 5 minutes longer. Transfer to a platter. I covered with aluminum foil and put in the warming drawer.
5. Pour off all but 1T fat from the skillet. Add the shallots and sauté over medium heat until softened about 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and stir until browned also. Add the beer, broth, maple syrup and thyme. Increase the heat and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom with a wooden spoon. Simmer vigorously until reduced to about 1 C. Add the mustard and butter. It says season to taste. I didn’t and it was fine.

I served the chicken with mashed potatoes and peas; kind of an old fashion dinner with a twist. The gravy was slightly sweet and good with the potatoes and the chicken. Jim is still cleaning up so I have to keep typing. The wine he served, Marietta, Old Vine Red, Lot Number 53 from Trader Joe’s, I did not like with the meal. The wine was good, but with the gravy, we could have used a German Riesling or Mosel.