Chicken Tuesday

A few years ago I worked at a bakery that gave a free loaf of bread to employees at the end of their shift. The bakery was connected to a cheese shop that offered large discounts to bakery employees on Mondays. I rarely worked on Monday, but it was convenient enough for me to stop on my way home from yoga and pick up a cheese selected at random. When I returned to work on Tuesday I would go home with a baguette, and have bread and cheese for dinner. Thus, the tradition of Cheese Tuesday was born. I no longer remember the cheeses I ate or what I learned, just that it was an enjoyable experience.

Recently I had the idea to reinstate this tradition, but in a different way. Instead of cheese, it would be chicken. You see, at home we mostly cook vegetarian or seafood dishes, but I actually really love chicken. I just find it more challenging. There seems to be a magical sweet spot between dry and raw that I regularly have a hard time finding, and Chicken Tuesday serves to motivate me to build a repertoire.

I haven’t yet instituted this weekly event (we’ve been busy), but I’ve been cooking and baking nonstop. If we consider our average-sized house to be a palace, then we’re cooking on the highest end Viking appliances. At least that’s what it feels like compared to our old apartment oven. I recently made Diana Henry’s baked chicken with herbs and mustard (the one chicken dish I’ve felt consistently confident about). Jeff said, “this is different than you’ve made it before, right?” It wasn’t! It’s just that our “high end” oven baked the pieces more evenly and better toasted the tops than our previous rental clunker. This gives me high hopes for future Chicken Tuesdays.

BAKED CHICKEN WITH HERBS AND MUSTARD, inspired by Diana Henry

You’ll need:
4-6 chicken thighs (I just buy one package that equals about a pound)
1-1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (tarragon or parsley are my favorite)
3 tbsp panko bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 425. Use a fork to mash together the butter, mustard, and herbs until roughly combined. (If your butter is not already softened, like mine never is, just put it in a small bowl and microwave it for 15 or so seconds.) Lay the chicken in a lightly oiled baking dish. Use your fingers to spread the butter-mustard mixture over the chicken (it does not need to be perfect; an uneven spread is good). Season the bread crumbs with a little bit of salt and pepper, then pour over and slightly press into the chicken. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165. The time completely depends on the size of the chicken thighs; I usually first check at 25 minutes.