Crusty Chicken Legs

° Serves 4

I do this sauté using chicken legs rather than breasts—the legs stay moister. Notice that the chicken is cooked mostly skin side down for quite a long time: 30 minutes. This technique constitutes a recipe in itself—you can serve the chicken as is right out of the skillet, with a salad alongside. Or, if you want to make it a little fancier, discard some of the fat from the skillet, add a little water to melt the solidified juices, and pour this mixture over the chicken. Here I take the basic idea a step further, creating a sauce with the chicken drippings (after first removing the chicken so its skin stays crisp).

Using a good sturdy skillet, preferably heavy nonstick aluminum, is important to ensure that the chicken becomes crusty and brown but doesn’t burn.

• 4 chicken legs (2½ pounds total)
• ¾ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped fine (about ¾ cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine (1 teaspoon)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons bottled steak sauce
• ½ cup water
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

With a sharp heavy knife, cut off the tips of the chicken drumsticks and discard them. Cut halfway through the leg between the thigh and drumstick (this helps with the cooking). Sprinkle the legs with the salt and pepper.

Heat a large heavy nonstick skillet for 1 minute, then add the chicken legs, skin side down, in one layer. Cook over medium to high heat for about 5 minutes on each side, until the legs have begun to brown. Turn the legs skin side down, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook for about another 20 minutes, until the chicken is well browned and cooked through. Remove the chicken legs from the skillet, arrange them skin side up on an ovenproof plate, and place in a warm oven.

Discard all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of the fat from the skillet. Add the onion and garlic to the skillet and cook for about 1 minute. Then stir in both vinegars and the steak sauce and cook, stirring, for a minute or so, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the water and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring to melt and mix in the solidified juices, for about 2 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken, garnish with the parsley, and serve immediately.