I want to bake some chicken thighs in the oven. I have a container of trinity (diced onion, celery, and bell pepper) that I want to use up. Can I throw the trinity in with the chicken if the dish will only cook for 30 minutes, or do I need to cook it on the stove for a few minutes first?
Also, would herbs de Provence be a good seasoning for this? Or would poultry seasoning work better?
I’m not sure you have enough chicken to get any significant drippings from a 30 minute roast, but the trinity and juice would make a good starter for gravy.
Trinity is safe raw, so it’s a matter of whether you want some al dente veg w your chix, or want something more like sauteed veg, or are looking for the veg to totally fall apart to soft goo as it does in a gumbo.
My bet is that absent pre-cooking you’ll get al dente. Or crunchier. Which won’t turn out as good as you like. Whether you pre-sautee in butter or oil to get some browning or simmer in chicken stock for a while to get a more soup/stew-like consistency is up to you. Either would be darn nice IMO.
ref @Elmer_J.Fudd’s excellent suggestion just above, if you go the simmering route, use as little stock as you can get away with, replenishing as necessary, and that simmering pan likker plus the roasting pan drippings will be a good start to a sauce or gravy.
But I think you’ll be disappointed if you just dump the raw veg in with the raw chix & hope for both an easy one-pot meal and good.
How about a can of tomatoes and some creole seasoning? A sort of chicken creole, if you will.
Vegetables need longer and/or higher temps to cook than most meats. The baking won’t cook any of the plant components by the time the chicken is done.
That is my concern. So I think maybe I will combine some recommendations. I will use the can of tomatoes (which should go well with the trinity) and creole seasoning and cook it a while on the stove before putting it in the baking dish with the chicken and chicken stock. It should go well with some white rice I made last night.
I’d skip the bake and go for more of a braise, maybe riff on cacciatore.
30 minutes doesn’t sound quite long enough (to me) to cook chicken thighs, but as long as an instant read thermometer shows 175 degrees or over , they would be safe to eat. Dark meat takes longer and should be cooked till tender as can be. You need liquid, moisture. (I cook them with trinity in chicken broth to make soup with a bay leaf, pinch of rosemary, and add cooked noodles separately.)
Yeah, breast I cook a bit under standard government advice (I take it to about 155) but thighs/quarters I find better cooked over —like to 185 or 190.
Well, I cooked the tomatoes, trinity, and Creole spices in a pot then added them to the baking dish of thighs and a can of stock then baked. After it was done I tasted and it was delicious although a little rich. So I added the rice and that balanced it out. YUM. Once I use up my Tony Cochere’s, I think I will make my own Creole spice mix.
Cachere’s ordinary mix is pretty bland and salty. The “More Spice” variant is vastly better.
Not the Holy Trinity, but my quick-dinner-for-one is frozen chicken breast tenderloins out of a bag, and frozen broccoli out of a bag. I cook them (from frozen) in the convection toaster oven for 25 minutes, and they turn out fine every time.
Interesting idea …
Bagged frozen diced mixed veg “succotash” is common. With several mixtures commonly available
I don’t recall seeing frozen diced trinity. My oversight, or the market’s?
I’ve never noticed it, but I’ve also never looked for frozen trinity or even mirepoix. However, it does seem to exist (or at least close enough):
ETA: OK, here’s one specifically marketed as such:
With Tony Chachere’s, I like the regular one fine. I think it’s quite flavorful on its own – I’ll just add extra heat to it myself. But another option is get the no salt kind, so you can use as much spicing as you like without worrying about oversalting your dish, and adjust salt independently, because that is a concern with Tony Chachere’s.
Good research, thank you.
And yeah, as to Tony’s, my main complaint is how much of the blends are ordinary salt. I generally like my food rather salty, but his are so salty that I can’t get much flavor or even worse, much heat, before the dish is badly oversalted. Starting with the no salt variety would be the smartest move. Then add his blend for flavor and top up the heat separately as needed.
That’s why I want to make my own no-salt blend. I like it spicy but not salty.