Braised Chicken and Acorn Squash
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Enjoy the last of your winter squash with this incredibly savory and flavorful dish. We used Acorn Squash, but Butternut is an alternative. The combination of the Asian- inspired flavors of soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and rice vinegar with red wine in the braising liquid results in a divine dish.
What Is Braising?
Braising is a combination-cooking technique as it includes both dry-heat and moist-heat cooking. It starts with pan searing, preferably in a Dutch oven, followed by cooking slowly while the ingredients are immersed half-way in a liquid until they become tender. The half-covered immersion allows for the benefits from simmering and steaming at the same time. In this recipe the liquid is an Asian-inspired mix of soy sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, red wine, and sesame oil.
Gather your ingredients
2 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (we used 5 for this recipe)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 scallions
1 inch piece of fresh ginger (do not use powdered ginger in its place)
1/2 cup red wine (use a wine you would choose to drink as you will have most of the bottle to enjoy with your dinner!)
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock (this is added in two 1/2 cup portions)
1 acorn squash
8 ounces baby spinach (1/2 a bag)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Cooked white rice for serving with the dish (we made 2 cups uncooked rice which results in 4 cups of cooked rice)
Prepare your vegetables.
Peel the ginger with the back of a spoon or the handle of a utensil. Slice thinly (Images 1-2).
Trim the ends off the scallions then cut the stem into 1-inch pieces until you reach the point where it starts to branch into individual leaves. Cut the leaves thinly to use as a garnish (Images 3-5).
Prepare the acorn squash by cutting off both ends, slice in half, scooping out the seeds with a spoon, and then cutting into 1/2 inch slices (Images 6-9).
Sear the chicken. This is the first step in braising.
Sprinkle the skin side of the chicken with 1/2 of the salt and pepper. Place a Dutch oven or large heavy pot on the stove over medium-high heat.
Once hot, coat the bottom of the pot with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add the chicken, skin side down, and sprinkle the side facing up with the remaining salt and pepper. (Image 10)
Cook the chicken until the skin is browned. Drain the excess fat then turn over and brown the other side, about 10 minutes total (Image 11).
Remove the chicken from the pot and transfer to a plate - it will not be fully cooked yet.
Prepare the braising liquid and cook the chicken.
Add the scallions and the ginger to the hot Dutch oven, cooking in the residual chicken grease (Image 12).
Add the wine and bring to a simmer (Image 13). This will deglaze the bottom of the pan, which is a way to get all of the flavor into the sauce.
Simmer until the liquid is reduced by about a half, approximately 5 minutes (Image 14).
Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and 1/2 cup stock and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar (Images 15-16).
Return the chicken to the pot, placing the skin side up (Image 17). Partially cover the pot, reduce the heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked through 25-30 minutes. Chicken is cooked through once it reaches 165 degrees F.
Cook the squash and spinach.
Once the chicken is cooked through and reaches a temperature of 165 F (Image 18), remove it from the pot and transfer to a clean plate.
Add the squash and remaining 1/2 cup of stock to the pot, submerging the squash as much as possible (Images 19-20).
Arrange the spinach on the top (Image 21). Bring to a simmer, partially cover pot, and cook until squash is just tender enough to spear with a fork and greens are lightly wilted, about 10 minutes. Do not overcook.
Remove pot from heat, drizzle the rice vinegar over vegetables, and season with salt to taste.
Add the cooked chicken back into the pot with the vegetables (Image 22), spooning the liquid over the top.
Garnish with thinly chopped scallions (Image 23). Serve over rice and enjoy!