Braised Chicken Quarters
with Morels, Tarragon, and Brown Butter

If you’ve never had morels, you’re in for a real treat. Nutty, earthy, and wonderfully soft, these mushrooms feature small crater-like pockets that make the perfect folds for catching and holding sauce, which happens to be brown butter in this dish. Fresh morels are usually only found in the spring at farmers’ markets, but you can find dried morels any time of the year at most natural food stores. I use dried morels here, and after a bit of rehydrating, they taste just as savory as the fresh ones. They can be a bit expensive out of season, so you could also substitute other mushroom varieties if you’d like, but nothing tastes quite like morels. Plus you’re left with a delicious broth, which is incorporated into the chicken cooking liquid that’s spooned over the chicken legs while they’re simmering, making for a luxuriously rich and deeply flavorful dinner. • serves 2

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• 1 ounce dried morel mushrooms
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 ounces shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon leaves
• 2 chicken leg quarters (about ¾ pound each), bone in and skin on
• 1 teaspoon heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Soak the morels in the warm water until rehydrated and softened, about 15 minutes. Reserve the soaking liquid and the morels separately.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat in a stainless steel medium frying pan. Add the shallot, garlic, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot becomes slightly translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the morels, shiitakes, and tarragon and cook, stirring every 2 minutes, until the shiitake have darkened in color and wrinkled slightly and the butter turns a deep golden hue and smells slightly nutty, about 8 minutes. Remove the shallot, garlic, morels, and mushrooms with a slotted spoon and set them aside.

Add the chicken leg quarters to the pan. Cook until well browned on both sides, then flip them skin side up and add the reserved morel soaking liquid so that it comes up to about 1 inch in the pan. Simmer over medium heat until the liquid in the pan has reduced by at least half and the chicken is cooked through, 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, spooning the simmering liquid over the chicken every 10 minutes.

Add the cream and whisk into the pan juices. Return the morel mixture to the pan along with the fresh thyme and stir to coat in the sauce. Serve immediately.