Kale with Chicken Thighs (Salmon)

I read a book called Smart Chefs Stay Slim, Lessons in Eating and Living from America’s Best Chefs.  Guess what the secret is?  They do not eat what they feed you.  Most are vegetarians.  There are not many recipes in the book, but I chose this one as I am trying to use up the food in the freezers.  According to the list, we had chicken thighs in the downstairs freezer.  They were not there.  So I substituted as I had already bought a large amount of kale.  The substitution worked very well.  I would have to say, I probably enjoyed it more.     

Ingredients: 

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (I used salmon fillets)

Salt and pepper

1T EVOO

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

2 Fresno chilies, sliced in rings (I used jalapenos)

2 bunches of kale, roughly chopped (I bought a large bag)

½ C almonds, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

½ C parsley

Directions:

1.       Season thighs (salmon) liberally on both sides with salt and pepper

2.       Warm the EVOO in a Dutch oven over medium heat, and brown the thighs, skin side down, for 3 minutes per side.  Place the thighs on a plate.  (I browned the salmon on high heat and placed it on a paper plate.)

3.       Add onions, garlic, and chilies to the Dutch oven and sweat until translucent, about 4 minutes.

4.       Add kale, bay leaf and 1C water.

5.       Bring to a simmer.  They say salt liberally; I did not use salt at this point.  Remember you salted the salmon.

6.       Place the chicken on top of the kale, skin side up, and place in a 375 degree oven, uncovered for 20 minutes.  (I covered the kale and salmon.)

7.       Remove from oven and top with lemon zest, lemon juice, almonds and parsley.  (I combined the zest, parsley and chopped almonds on wax paper.  Sprinkled the combined mixture over all and drizzled the lemon juice.)

Jim spent the whole day at the new house as there was a great deal of electrical work involving the Electric Company and our electrician.  Electrical upgrades are the only thing the last owners did not do.  This is probably our biggest expense.  So we are not sure whether he was starving or whether he actually enjoyed the kale as much as I did.  The kale is fabulous.  I think if you use the chicken thighs the kale will have an oilier feel.  This is a wonderful dish, you could even skip any meat and make it as a side dish for anything.