Chicken Thighs with White Beans and Greens
Chicken Thighs with White Beans and Greens - this recipe is easy enough for a weeknight dinner, and perfect for when you want your company to feel like family.
This chicken thighs with greens and beans is inexpensive and nutritious, with roots in peasant food from the Italian countryside. The ‘beans and greens’ (scarola e fagioli) combination’s been a favorite of Italian immigrants here in the US, and it’s been made into soups, stews, and warming meals for generations. It’s quite quick to prepare, too, especially when you use canned beans, and prewashed greens will make it even faster. The Italians traditionally use escarole, but there are so many other varieties - spinach, kale, watercress, endive, radicchio, chard, arugula, beet greens, collard greens - and that doesn’t even include all the Asian greens ~ pick one, or mix and match.
I compromised and used prewashed baby spinach, but took the extra time to rinse a fresh bunch of kale and watercress in cold water. Watercress is my favorite green, and you won’t find it pre-packaged because it’s so delicate. I de-stemmed and chopped the kale, but left the tender watercress alone.
- 8 bone-in skin-on, chicken thighs
- salt, fresh cracked black pepper
- red chili flakes
- olive oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced
- 2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
- 2 cups chicken stock, or 1 cup stock and 1 cup white wine
- 30 ounces canned white beans, or cannellini beans drained and well rinsed
- 1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
- 1 bunch watercress, stems trimmed
- 1 lb baby spinach
- shavings of Parmesan-Reggiano cheese