Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 400°F. While you wait, lay 4 chicken thighs skin-down in a cold skillet and heat on medium-low. Let cook, untouched, until the skin is golden brown and crispy, about 15 minutes. In the meantime, cut 400g potatoes into 1-cm thick pieces and tear 150g mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Back in the skillet remove the chicken, deglaze with ¼ cup wine and add in cut potatoes and mushrooms. Season generously with salt and place the chicken on top. Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes.
- While that bakes, dice 1 shallot and 2 garlic cloves. Remove thyme leaves from 5 sprigs and discard stems. Finally, use a mortar and pestle° to finely crush ½ tablespoon peppercorns, ensuring there are no large chunks. Set everything aside.
- Transfer the chicken, potatoes and mushrooms to a serving platter and heat pan on medium. Add 2 tablespoon butter and let melt, once foaming add diced shallot, garlic and crushed peppercorns. Cook until the shallots are soft and your kitchen smells like toasted pepper and garlic, about 3 minutes. Deglaze with remaining ¼ cup white wine and stir in 120g creme fraîche and thyme leaves until well incorporated. Once the sauce is warmed through, finish with a squeeze of lemon (about ½ tbsp) then taste and add salt if needed until it's tasting so good you don't want to stop.
- Serve the warm pepper sauce over the chicken with potatoes and mushrooms, taking a moment to enjoy all the yummy caramelized bits.
Notes
If you don't have a mortar and pestle, use a clean dish towel and a rolling pin to crush the pepper. If the peppercorn pieces are too big their flavour will overpower the sauce, so take your time during this stage to ensure they are all crushed.
If you don't have creme fraîche, or can't find it, substitute for ⅓ cup heavy cream. Avoid the urge to use sour cream or Greek yogurt—those have a lower fat content, which means they're more prone to curdle in hot liquids and leave you with a broken sauce.