Sage-Braised Chicken Legs from The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook

I'm always on the look out for dishes that I think could be a weeknight dinner.  What's a weeknight dinner for me?  One that doesn't keep me in the kitchen for longer than an hour and has minimal clean up.  While looking through Mickey Trescott's Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, her Sage-Braised Chicken Legs looked like a contender for weeknight dinner status.   

I gathered my ingredients and preheated my oven.  

I started to heat my 12 inch Scan Pan saute pan with coconut oil before drying and seasoning my chicken thighs.  Whichever pan you use, make sure it is oven safe.  Mickey uses legs and thighs, but I only had thighs.  I figured it would be OK.  Once my pan was hot, I put the thighs in the pan skin side down and set a timer for 8 minutes.  

While the chicken was browning, I sliced up my mushrooms, and chopped some fresh sage and garlic.  

When the timer went off, I removed the chicken from the pan to a plate.  Look at how nice and brown it was.  

After turning down the heat a bit, I added the garlic to the pan.  My pan must have still been a bit hot as my garlic was getting a little too much color short of the minute I was to saute it.  I added my mushrooms and sage a bit early.

I sauteed the mushrooms and sage for a few minutes and then turned off the heat.  I added the vinegar and then placed the chicken on to of the mushrooms.  

I added some chicken broth and water, per the recipe instructions, before putting the entire saute pan in the oven.  I set a timer for 35 minutes.  When I removed the pan from the oven, I checked the temperature of the chicken and it was done. 

Here's my dinner plate.

Accessibility & Cost of Ingredients:  You should be able to find everything you need for this recipe at your "big box" grocery store.  I'm always a horrible judge of what size container of fresh herbs to buy when I'm at the store with my shopping list.  I used an entire 2/3 ounce container of sage for this recipe (using only the leaves).

Preparation & Cooking Time:  It took me just under 19 minutes from start to putting my saute pan in the oven and then I baked the dish for 35 minutes.  Total time was just under 54 minutes.  The stated recipe time is 1 hour 15 minutes.  I'm glad mine took a little less but I think the stated time is a good guideline as your chicken might take more time to cook than mine.

Clean Up: A one pan dish -Mickey knows how to make my day.  Clean up was a breeze as everything except for my pan went into the dishwasher.

The Paleo Review:  Thumbs Up!  The chicken was perfectly cooked.  It was juicy and there was plenty of liquid to use as a pan sauce.  Do not skip the lemon juice at the end, as it helps bring out the sage flavor.  This is a perfect weeknight dinner.  For the first time in a while, I didn't share my food with anyone as I wanted all to myself.  Yummy one pot juicy chicken:  another reason to not let the AIP label scare you away from this cookbook.