Review: Chicken Thighs with Goat Cheese and Tarragon

[KValley]

Yet another winner from the May '01 section on cooking with chicken thighs.

This recipe couldn't be any easier and probably not much more delicious. It was rich, flavorful, interesting, and darned inexpensive. You've got to like goat cheese, as the sauce is quite tangy. Tarragon is one of my favorite herbs, but I find it really needs a cream or egg base to bring it out (it's my herb of choice for omelettes). I added extra vegetables- and there is certainly room for creativity.



[This message has been edited by KValley (edited 05-16-2001).]

[LGBurns]

Thanks, Julie! My husband and I are having a friend over on Saturday night, and I've been eyeing this recipe. Our friend is single so I always like to make an extra special meal for him when he comes over for dinner.

Hey! I just saw on the chickpea salad post that your husband's name is Brendan. The friend I mentioned above is named Brendan. Silly, I know, but had to mention it.

[This message has been edited by LGBurns (edited 05-16-2001).]

[Peeps]

I made this last night and it was one of my first times cooking chicken and it came out great, I was amazed! I loved the goat cheese flavor of the sauce. I used fresh basil instead of tarragon though and thought it worked really well.

[Julie A]

I really loved this recipe. I never used Tarragon before, and now I'm a fan!
A real repeater.

[KValley]

Originally posted by LGBurns:
Hey! I just saw on the chickpea salad post that your husband's name is Brendan. The friend I mentioned above is named Brendan. Silly, I know, but had to mention it.

[This message has been edited by LGBurns (edited 05-16-2001).]

Ha -great coincidence! It's not a very common name- lots of Brandon's but not many Brendan's. He's my Irish-Finnish hunk http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[LGBurns]

oh.my.god. I know I have to stop with the coincidences but I could not pass this up. I'm half Finnish. My family name is Ahonen!

[KValley]

Originally posted by LGBurns:
oh.my.god. I know I have to stop with the coincidences but I could not pass this up. I'm half Finnish. My family name is Ahonen!

Hee hee- Brendan is half-Finnish from his mother's side. I'd have to check what their name was before it was changed to Thompson at Ellis Island. Her whole family is from Astoria, OR where there is a HUGE Finnish community- fishermen. Her dad fished for a living... All the Norwegians and Swedes went to Washington State...lots of rivalry there, you know http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Karen M]

We had this last night and weren't impressed. We gave it a 4. I probably won't make it again, it was a waste of perfectly good (not to mention expensive) goat cheese.

I have reaffirmed that fact that I don't really like chicken thighs, too much gristle and fat on them. Maybe I'll try some of the other recipes with chicken breasts.....

[LGBurns]

Julie, I made this Saturday night and it was so delicious. Brendan looked at my husband and said, "Do you eat like this every night?" Thanks for the recommendation. I thought the sauce was so tangy and delicious, and the whole meal was pretty easy especially using my little mini-chopper. The only thing that took time was boning and skinning the thighs since I wasn't able to find any boned and skinned at the store.
Karen M, I'm so sorry you didn't like it. I'm wondering if you used boneless chicken thighs--ours didn't have any gristle and very little fat. Oh well, just goes to show: "to each his (or her) own." http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[SoCal]

I too really enjoyed this recipe and it was the first time I ever tasted goat cheese. I used boneless/skinless chicken breasts since that is what I had on hand and because that's what my son likes (that is important!). Also, I bought a 5-oz package of goat cheese (smallest pack) and used it all and just adjusted the other ingredients a bit. I was a little heavy on the vegetables too. Very easy recipe except for finely chopping the vegetables (although, to be honest, I was a little too particular about making sure they were all the same size http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif !!). I think next time I would even cut up the chicken in bite-sized pieces before cooking and spoon it over couscous instead of rice. This recipe will definitely be on the repeat list.

[Leanne]

I made this last night. I love goat cheese & tarragon, but I didn't think this recipe had much flavor - or felt that it was missing something. I ended up adding more garlic, onion, & chicken broth. I will probably make some version of this again, but not how it was written.

[Donna P]

This dish is wonderful. A definite keeper - good enough for company. The only thing I did differently was to cook the chicken maybe 30 minutes longer in the chicken broth because my husband recently had oral surgery and has to eat very soft food. It was melt in your mouth great!

[Peggy]

This is one of the chicken thigh recipes that I had planned on skipping but so many people liked it I had to give it a try! Well...everyone was right. It is very good. I had passed over it initially because of the goat cheese (My DH is not a big fan of it). The cheese and vegetables made the sauce wonderful. Tangy but not too tangy. DH actually liked it. The recipe reminds me of one from the April 2000 issue, but can't recall the name of it right now. Thanks to everyone for their persuasive reviews!

Peggy

[njwgood]

could someone post this recipe? I did a search and could not find it. thanks, nancy

[greysangel]

Add me to the list of people that liked this one :)

I thought this was elegant and delicious. I served this over egg noodles and braised zucchini and leeks. I used an herb goat cheese and added a bit more garlic.

Delicious and a definite repeat!

JeAnne