Bite and Booze by Jay D. Ducote

Monday, January 30, 2012

Baked "BBQ" Chicken Thighs over Grande Whole Grains with Thyme

As part of the promotion that I'm doing with Virtual Potluck, Bob's Red Mill and the California Olive Ranch sent each of the bloggers some special grains and oils in order to help us come with some healthy dishes to kick off 2012.  You can go back and take a look at my appetizer and side dish, but now it is time to get on to the main event!  I needed to make use of Bob's Grande Whole Grains as well as the Miller's Blend olive oil.  I also had access to my Harb's Oasis herb garden, some chicken thighs, and my own homemade BBQ sauce.  Plus, as an added bonus, I recently received a sample of DJ Paul's (yes, the DJ Paul from Three 6 Mafia!) BBQ rub.  This chicken and whole grains had met its match!

Baked "BBQ" Chicken Thighs over Grande Whole Grains with Thyme

The basic preparation shook down like this:
A few hours before I was ready to start cooking I put 8 chicken thighs in a brine of apple cider vinegar, Tin Roof Amber Ale, a chopped onion, and some of my homemade Bite and Booze BBQ Sauce.  They then went back into the refrigerator until I was ready to cook.

The whole grains needed to boil and simmer for a while to absorb enough moisture.  I added 1 cup of grains and 2 and half cups of water to a sauce pan and placed it over high heat.  I also threw in a pinch of kosher salt, a couple turns of my black pepper mill, a dash of cayenne, and about a teaspoon of dried thyme that I had previously cut from my herb harden.  After coming to a boil, I covered the pot and reduced the heat to simmer for nearly an hour.

The 8 chicken thighs were removed from the brine, patted down with a paper towel, drizzled lightly with Miller's Blend olive oil, and placed in a large hotel pan (any baking dish would work).  With the skin side up, I sprinkled DJ Paul's BBQ rub on each thigh to liberally coat the skin.  The thighs were then placed in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  After the half hour, I took the chicken out of the oven, brushed each thigh with BBQ sauce, and then returned them to the oven for another 15 minutes.

After everything was ready, I plated the dish by placing a large serving spoon of whole grains on the plate, then topping that with a chicken thigh.  I garnished with a sprig of tried thyme to give the entree a more rustic look that worked with the whole grains.  And the best part: after I took a few pictures, I got to eat it!


Want some Bob's Red Mill grains and olive oil from the California Olive Ranch?  Read blow for the details about how you could win some!
  • Visit either Bob's Red Mill or California Olive Ranch's Facebook pages and retrieve this week's Virtual Potluck code word. Then use that code word in a sentence, when commenting on this blog post. 
Additional Entries:
  • For an extra entry: Follow BRM, COR and VirtualPotluck's Twitter profiles and tweet about the contest linking to this blog post and using the #virtualpotluck hashtag. Then comment again, letting me know you've done so, by providing the link to your tweet.
  • More Blogs, More Ways to Win: Get additional entries in each week's giveaways by visiting our host blog and finding other participating VP bloggers sites to comment on.

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I love whole grains and chicken thighs. This would certainly meet my Everyday Fresh requirement. My husband would love this, too.

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  2. I follow all three on twitter and tweeted about the recipe and giveaway. https://twitter.com/#!/grobiemum/status/164177540712374272

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  3. Looks great, simple, elegant and I am sure delectable. I know you used Millers Blend but I think the code word for the week is Everyday Fresh!
    jlammers002@woh.rr.com

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  4. Looks yummy! I would love to try Everyday Fresh olive oil.
    cereza25 at yahoo dot com

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  5. Love BBQ chicken! Wouldn't mind winning the Miller's blend Olive oil to try to make this! :)

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  6. I follow all three and tweeted here
    https://twitter.com/#!/picatasi/status/164899429080498176

    sweepinpianista at gmail dot com

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  7. Hey, where's the recipe for that BBQ sauce? ;)

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