One of the challenges of 3 ingredients is getting a rich, full flavor and texture with limited options. With this dish I tried to create a rich sauce out of 2 ingredients. The result was buttery and rich, and with the addition of a good amount of cracked pepper, it had a kick, too!
For a refresher on the rules of my 10 day, 3 ingredient challenge, check out the first post.
3 things to get...
- 4 chicken leg quarters
- 6 ounces of roasted red peppers*
- 1 medium acorn squash, cubed (you can leave skin on, or peel if you're industrious)
What to do with it...
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Heat a large oven-proof saute pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon butter
- Sprinkle kosher salt/cracked pepper on chicken
- Add chicken to your pan and saute on each side until brown, then transfer to a roasting pan and add to oven.
- Start timer for 45 mins, keeping the pan with drippings on the stove on low heat for the next step
- In the same pan used for the chicken, toss in squash and saute until golden and then transfer pan to oven (keeping the squash in it's own pan will help keep flavors separate/distinct until plating)
- While chicken and squash are roasting, add roasted red peppers to a food processor and pulse until it's the consistency of a chunky paste (you can also use ajvar for this)
- After 45 mins, remove chicken and squash from the oven and transfer half of the squash and all of the chicken to a large plate, reserving the chicken drippings
- Remove the skins from the remaining half of squash in the pan and add your pepper mixture
- Pour the chicken drippings from your roasting pan into the pepper/squash mixture
- Return the pan to the stove on low heat and begin mashing the squash to incorporate into the sauce
- Season with general cracked pepper and salt to taste
- Serve sauce over the chicken along with the roasted squash
One down (small 'hurrah!), 9 to go...
