Would this work? Cajun chicken bake thingy

Getting a bit annoyed looking at recipes as I find it difficult to source a lot of ingredients where I live and I'm really inexperienced. End result would be baked chicken in a spicy bed of sauce to put over rice.

Today, brine a load of boneless thighs. Tomorrow, quickly brown them in olive oil and put them aside. Then a lot of finely chopped and big slicess of onions and and garlic and add some butter or olive oil. Then mushrooms.

Is this when I'd throw in my cajun spice and dried red pepper? Or do I put that in after adding chicken stock?

Anyways, then throw it all in an oven tray and cover with foil and cook in the over for an hour or something. Thicken with cornstarch if needed by draining the liquid into a saucepan before readding it.

Would the chicken fat that leaks out into the sauce make this good? I've never made anything like before. Want a curry type thing with really soft chicken that I can put into freezer bags.

Thanks.

Faith

I think your basic idea is good, and I have a few thoughts that might make it better.

I wouldn’t bother browning the chicken. It’s not necessary.

If you’re planning to poach the chicken, essentially, it’s not necessary to brine it. Brining is a method of adding moisture ahead of a dry cooking method (like roasting) but if you’re cooking the chicken in stock, it won’t dry out so doesn’t need brining.

I would consider marinating the raw chicken thighs in your Cajun spice mix overnight instead.

Don’t overcrowd the dish with chicken either, they’ll need a bit of space to cook properly.

Other than that, it sounds like you’re on track. Learning to cook is all about trial and error so the best thing to do is just try it!

Dizzyblonde

Another thing you could do is add is a tin of chopped tomatoes rather than stock, that would make a lovely sauce with the cajun spice etc.

Adding curry powder instead of cajun spice, along with a tin of tomatoes would give a rogan josh type curry sauce.

*I tend to add a teaspoon of sugar with every tin of tomatoes to balance the acidity.

Faith

Faith wrote: »

I think your basic idea is good, and I have a few thoughts that might make it better.

I wouldn’t bother browning the chicken. It’s not necessary.

If you’re planning to poach the chicken, essentially, it’s not necessary to brine it. Brining is a method of adding moisture ahead of a dry cooking method (like roasting) but if you’re cooking the chicken in stock, it won’t dry out so doesn’t need brining.

I would consider marinating the raw chicken thighs in your Cajun spice mix overnight instead.

Don’t overcrowd the dish with chicken either, they’ll need a bit of space to cook properly.

Other than that, it sounds like you’re on track. Learning to cook is all about trial and error so the best thing to do is just try it!

I read this yesterday while out of the house and decided to not brine the chicken. Thanks for the advice.

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Another thing you could do is add is a tin of chopped tomatoes rather than stock, that would make a lovely sauce with the cajun spice etc.

Adding curry powder instead of cajun spice, along with a tin of tomatoes would give a rogan josh type curry sauce.

*I tend to add a teaspoon of sugar with every tin of tomatoes to balance the acidity.

The tomatoes thing sounds really good and the bit of sugar.


I'm actually going to save this cajun idea with the tomatoes until next week, so you guys' advice won't go to waste. I have a hankering for turmeric today for some reason so will do the same general meal but with turmeric and coconut cream instead of cajun and tomatoes. And I might throw in some fish sauce to the pan for a while before the coconut / turmeric mix.

Lovely.