Carb Diva: French Onion Chicken and Pasta

The Weather Outside Is Frightful

I live in the United States—you'll find me in the upper left-hand corner of the map, the Pacific Northwest, specifically Washington. Washington, the "Evergreen State." Evergreen because, as you've heard, it rains here ... a lot.

As I write it's the dead of winter. The sun goes down at 4:00 p.m. and sunrise isn't until about 8:00 in the morning. I'm beginning to forget what the sun looks like, and we are all desperately in need of comfort food. Soups and stews are on the menu rotation along with this dish I created for dinner last night—French onion chicken and pasta.

Ingredients

4 skinless, bone-in chicken thighs, medium size
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 cups yellow onions, sliced vertically (see note)
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
4 cups beef stock
8 ounces dry pasta, orecchiette or other shell-shaped pasta
1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded, for garnish

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels and then season both sides with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and slowly saute the thighs until richly browned on one side, about 10 minutes.
Flip the chicken thighs over and cook on the other side until brown, about 10 minutes more. This low and slow cooking makes the thighs meltingly fork tender and creates fond in the bottom of the pan (I'll explain that in Step 3). Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
The bottom of the pan contains yummy bits from cooking that chicken; this is called "fond" and is an important part of the success of this dish. Fond equals flavor.
Increase the heat to medium; add the butter to the pan and once it melts add all of the onions. Yes, it looks like a lot of onions, but keep in mind that onions are about 89 percent water. As soon as you hear the onions begin to sizzle, turn the heat back down to low. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are a luscious golden brown. This will take at least 30 minutes. You might be tempted to increase the heat to hurry the process; please don't. If cooked with higher heat the onions will burn and become bitter tasting. Your patience will be rewarded. (By the way, slicing the onions pole to pole means that you cut them from stem end to bottom, not horizontally.)
When the onions are golden increase the heat to high. Add the sherry and stir until the sherry evaporates. Add the flour and stir to coat the onions. Add the broth and stir to mix everything together.
When the mixture is boiling add the pasta all at once. Stir to combine and then turn the heat down so that the mixture just barely simmers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender (the orecchiette I used took about 15 minutes to cook.) Several things happen in this step; the pasta absorbs the flavors in the broth, the broth reduces slightly, and the pasta releases its starch into the broth to help thicken and create a sauce.
While the pasta is cooking, remove the cooked chicken meat from the bone. You can omit this step if you wish, but deboning the chicken makes this dish a little easier to eat. When the pasta is tender, nestle the cooked chicken back into the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Serve, and garnish with cheese. I served this meal with sauteed kale.