Anchovy Butter Chicken and Potatoes

Dinner Therapist is my column dedicated to solving your dilemmas around the most important — but, let’s be honest, sometimes most dreaded — meal of the day. Prepping dinner night after night can be so hard. Here, I deliver practical and hopefully fun advice to make cooking less complicated and more enjoyable. Follow along for all the recipes. Got your own dinner struggles? We want to hear from you! Fill out this super-quick form for your chance to be featured in an upcoming column.

Welcome back to Dinner Therapist! Inexpensive pantry items are my number-one strategy for jazzing up basic dinners that I keep in regular rotation. One tiny twist can keep it from feeling like we’re eating the same thing on repeat week after week. Plus, it makes a Wednesday night dinner feel a little more special, if not kinda fancy. 

Chicken thighs and potatoes are in heavy rotation in my family’s meal plan. It’s an easy, reliable staple dinner that everyone enjoys. It’s also a simple meal that checks all the boxes: readily available, budget-friendly, and super versatile. 

• Heat oven and boil pot of water. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 425℉. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil.
• Melt anchovies. Add the full 2-ounce tin of anchovies to a hot, oil-slicked skillet, and as they cook, stir and mash the anchovies into a paste.
• Sear chicken. You’ll melt a couple tablespoons of unsalted butter in the same skillet and place the seasoned chicken thighs skin-side down to sear. Be sure to let them cook undisturbed until they’re nicely browned.
• Meanwhile, par-boil potatoes. At the same time, add the quartered potatoes to a pot of salted boiling water and cook until they’re knife-tender. When ready, drain well, removing as much water as possible. 
• Sauté aromatics. Transfer the seared chicken to a plate (it won’t be fully cooked yet), and cook the minced garlic and red pepper flakes until fragrant.
• Brown potatoes. Add the drained potatoes to the skillet, stir to coat, and cook until lightly browned. Remove the skillet from the heat.
• Return chicken to skillet and finish in oven. Nestle the chicken thighs skin-side up into the potatoes. Add to the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through.
• Top with a squeeze of lemon. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over the finished chicken and potatoes. 

• Leave the chicken alone while it sears. While it’s tempting to want to lift up the chicken thighs to check on them or move them around the pan, don’t. Let them cook totally undisturbed for at least eight minutes. You want them to be a deep brown color. If they’re not quite there, let them cook for another minute or two.
• It’s okay to omit the red pepper flakes. If you don’t like any heat or you’re cooking for tiny eaters, it’s OK to leave out the pepper flakes. 
• Drain the potatoes very well. You want to remove as much excess moisture as possible so it doesn’t splatter when it hits the hot oil in the skillet.