There's bacon in them there thighs

In this week’s Cooking with Bwog, Master Chef Matt Powell faces a special difficulty on his quest for culinary dorm conquest.

To cook a main course without a carb. Gone were the noodles, the rice, the quinoa, and couscous. I didn’t have any additional cookware this time around, and just a few random ingredients (clementines, cherry tomatoes, and an avocado). Luckily, I was sent to Brian’s dorm, and he had just gone shopping! I had my pick of chicken thighs, ground beef, a steak even! This is what we came up with:

Chicken Thighs stuffed with Bleu Cheese, Bacon, and Red Onion

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 2 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless (FYI West Side chicken thighs are ginormous!)
  • 3 fatty strips of bacon, diced
  • ½ red onion, diced
  • 6 oz. bleu cheese, crumbled (goat cheese also works well)
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

  1. In a small skillet, cook the bacon until the fat has rendered, 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat. Add in the red onion and sauté until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add in the bleu cheese and remove from the heat. Stir until cheese has melted and the mixture takes on a creamy, thick consistency. Season to taste with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
  2. Trim chicken thighs of any excess fat and remnants of bone. Tenderize and pound to a uniform thickness. (Since we didn’t have a kitchen mallet, we used our fists. No joke.) Spread the cheese mixture onto the backside of the chicken thighs. Roll up the chicken thighs. (It would be preferable to tie the chicken thighs with kitchen twine to secure them and keep the filling inside the chicken while cooking.) Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.
  3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Brown the chicken thighs in the skillet, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer browned chicken thighs to a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees. When pricked, the chicken juices should run clear, not pink.
  4. Serve (At this point, I really wanted some rice, but alas, no carbs!)