Bacon on bread. That’s what I felt like eating for dinner. Double smoked, thinly sliced, crispy bacon from AC Butchery on wood-fired Italian bread, to be exact. I was roasting a tray of bacon in my oven to add as a garnish to my Roasted Pumpkin Soup and the aroma was so enticing that I contemplated pushing the soup aside and feasting on the bacon alone. I have mentioned before in Cabinet of Cookery, how bacon makes everything savoury taste better. However, I managed to rein myself in and instead enjoyed a bowl of Butterflied Baked Chicken Thighs with Capsicum, Peas and Carrots. I added a rasher of bacon to my bowl on the sly…

This evening’s dinner of baked chicken thighs and the roasted pumpkin soup is a cinch to make and can even be prepared ahead of time, then warmed up when needed.  Ask your butcher to butterfly the chicken thighs for you. If you have bought them already packaged from your local supermarket, then use a sharp knife to horizontally slice through the middle of each thigh almost to the end. Then flip over the top part of the chicken and use a meat tenderising utensil to gently flatten each piece. 

Chicken thighs are an extremely versatile cut of poultry. They can be briskly stir-fried or slowly sautéed; marinated or minced; barbecued, baked or braised; casseroled or crumbed. It’s worth keeping a flattened pack on hand in your freezer because they can be turned into so many delicious dishes very easily. 

How to home cook Butterflied Baked Chicken Thighs

Ingredients
olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 medium red capsicums thickly sliced
2 fat carrots cut into 1 cm rounds
1 cup of peas, fresh or frozen
1.2 kg butterflied chicken thighs, bone out, skin off
juice of a lemon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon sea salt 
500 ml chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan forced. 

In a large frypan, sauté together all of the vegetables, except for the peas, in a good splash of olive oil over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Scrape into a large baking pan. I used my stainless steel All-Clad roasting pan, but a ceramic or cast iron ovenproof version works well too. 

Add a little more olive oil to the frypan. Sprinkle the flour onto a plate, stir through the salt and press both sides of each chicken thigh into the flour. Then in batches, fry them in the olive oil for a minute on each side just to seal in the flavour and cook off the flour. Transfer the floured, seared thighs to the baking pan, placing them on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle over the peas. 


Pour the chicken stock into the frypan and briefly bring it to the boil, scraping together all the yummy chicken bits and flour left behind. Pour this evenly over the chicken and vegetables waiting in the baking pan. 

Cover with aluminium foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Then, remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown. Serve with fluffy steamed rice or mashed potatoes and make sure you spoon over those lovely, chicken-veggie juices from the pan.  

Don’t forget the  Roasted Pumpkin Soup…

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic left whole in their skin
3 small zucchini
1 medium carrot
1 whole butternut pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon honey
500 mls chicken stock
500 mls water
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan forced. 

Dice up the carrot, zucchini and pumpkin into bite sized pieces. Make sure you remove all the skin off the pumpkin otherwise it will result in the finished soup having a woody texture. Put all of the vegetables, including the garlic along with the olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper into a large shallow baking dish. Stir together and place into the oven for 40 minutes. You can put this in at the same time as the chicken. 

When ready, transfer to a saucepan (I used my 3 litre copper based Scanpan because it accommodates this amount of ingredients easily with ample stirring and bubbling space). Over a medium heat, add the stock, water and honey and bring briefly to the boil. Reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes, tasting and adjusting the seasoning as needed. Remove from the heat and puree using a hand held blender like a Barmix. 

To serve, pour into soup bowls and top with chopped crispy bacon or sour cream or both.