This recipe combines two of my favorites loves: 1) improvising to create something that’s completely new to me, and 2) lightweight stealing someone else’s ideas and rebranding them as my own.

I recently broke down an entire chicken and I’ve been experimenting with how many different meals I can make for my wife and I over the week. I used the chicken breasts for yesterday’s tacos, and started marinating the thighs in the marinade below for tonight’s dinner. I’m planning on some kind of soup next using the carcass and wings so keep an eye out for that one soon.

The marinade is my riff on David Lebovitz’s “Chicken Lady Chicken” recipe, from his phenomenal cookbook My Paris Kitchen (highly recommend), which is itself a riff on a rotisserie chicken seller named Catherine’s recipe who sells them at the Bastille market near where he lived in Paris. My variation mainly cuts the recipe in half, ups the chile and garlic, and adds in parsley. I also change the cooking times and temp to be more slowly roasted, since I like the texture of the skin and meat better. If you are in a rush, you could adjust the heat to 425 F and cook for 30-50 minutes until the skin is crispy and the internal temp reaches 190-200 F.

The collard green recipe came about from getting two consecutive weekly bunches of it from my local imperfect food box. The first time I made a Korean inspired dish to be eaten alongside Korean BBQ wings, rice, and kimchi. This time I wanted the seasoning to match the French chicken that I already had marinating, so I improvised based off what I had and used shallot, garlic, and wine as the main flavor base. The only things missing to make it feel more French would be butter or swearing using English words in a French accent. But don’t let my lactose intolerance stop you, butter could be a good replacement for the olive oil if you feel it.

Follow your butter dreams, swear in French using English words, and watch Amelie or District 13. Here’ the recipe:

Chicken Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Thighs, bone in and skin on
• 1/8 Cup Parsley, minced
• 2 Large Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp White Wine or Rose
• 1.5 Tsp Soy Sauce
• 2 Tsp Harissa or Sambal Oelek
• 1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 Tsp Agave or 1 Tsp Honey
• 3/4 Tsp Kosher Salt

Collard Greens Ingredients

• 1 Bunch of Collard Greens, rolled tightly and cut into thin strips (like a chiffonade)
• 1 Large Shallot or 1/4 Red Onion, diced
• 1 Large Clove of Garlic, crushed
• 1 Glass of White Wine or Rose
• 1 Pinch of Thyme
• 1 Big Pinch Salt
• 1 Big Pinch Chicken Bouillon Powder
• A Few Grinds of Pepper
• 1 Tbsp of Olive Oil

Recipe

Serves: 2 – 3. Total Time: ~2 Hours.

• Wisk chicken marinade ingredients together and place in a large Ziplock with the chicken thighs. Massage marinade into the chicken and let marinate in the fridge for a few hours or up to a full day.
• When ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 300 F and lightly oil a roasting pan. Once the oven is preheated, place the marinated chicken in the pan, place in the oven, and set a timer for 1 hour and 30 minutes. (Check the chicken every 30 minutes or so to make sure nothing’s burning. You’ll know the chicken is done when it reaches 190-200 F, if you have a meat thermometer.)
• While the chicken is cooking prep the ingredients for the collard greens.
• Heat olive oil in a wide pan until shimmering. Add the shallots with a small pinch of salt and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, careful not to burn them.
• Add the crushed garlic and stir frequently for another minute or two.
• Add the collard greens and salt, and mix.
• Add the thyme and continuing stirring and mixing the greens until partially wilted (maybe 10-ish minutes.)
• Add the wine, chicken bouillon, and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring frequently. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until the wine is largely evaporated and collard greens are soft and dark green.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning of the collard greens to your liking. Let sit on the warm setting or place in the fridge to reheat later once the chicken is done.
• Serve the chicken and collard greens with bread, rice, or stuffing (as I did in the above photo.)