Chicken thighs with pepper sauce

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 chicken legs
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp porcini mushrooms, dried or other dried mushrooms
• 100 ml water
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion(s)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp butter
• 50 ml white wine
• 150 g crème fraîche
• ½ bunch chives

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

At least 1 hour before preparation, or the night before, salt the chicken thighs well and let them rest in the refrigerator until ready to cook. Ideally, do this in a place where the meat isn’t sitting in the liquid, for example, on a wire rack. Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with 100 ml of water. Heat an ovenproof frying pan on the stovetop over high heat. Add olive oil to the pan, pat the salted chicken thighs dry with kitchen paper if necessary, dust the skin-side down with flour, and then place the chicken thighs skin-side down in the pan. Immediately reduce the heat to medium and fry the chicken thighs. It’s best to place another suitable frying pan or pot on top as a weight so the skin has plenty of contact with the pan. Fry for about 8 minutes; there’s no need to turn the chicken thighs. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 240 °C (top/bottom heat). Peel and finely dice the onion and garlic. Remove the dried mushrooms from the water and chop fairly finely. Be sure to save the soaking water for later! Place the peppercorns in a bag and roughly crush them with a heavy object. When the skin on the thighs is nice and crispy and golden, remove the chicken thighs and set aside. Add the butter, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and pepper to the pan and sauté briefly. The onions and garlic should not brown. Add the white wine and let it almost completely evaporate, then add the mushroom liquid and return the chicken thighs to the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and cook the chicken thighs for about 8 minutes. Now finely chop the chives. When the chicken thighs are crispy brown, remove everything from the oven. Remove the chicken thighs and set aside. Add the crème fraîche and chives to the sauce base and mix well. Do not boil again! Season the sauce to taste and transfer to plates, then place the chicken thighs on top and serve. Leaf spinach and, if desired, parsley potatoes go well with this. This recipe works best in an ovenproof pan, but you can also simply transfer everything to an ovenproof dish after frying. You may need to be careful with the pepper; I find two tablespoons of whole black pepper from the supermarket gives it a nice peppery flavor. If you have more aromatic pepper, adjust the amount if necessary.