Easy Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Capers!

I found a DARLING little French Bistro to go to on Friday night but....well, let's just say that, what with the cost of the repainting and repairs, and the fact that I have to pay that lawyer's bill in 10 days, we decided to be practical and eat in. Still, it definitely put me in mood for French cuisine, which reminds me of my recent outing in Vancouver with my friend Cat when we were looking for a place for dinner - for at least 20 years, whenever we had driven down Denman Street, Cat would always say "Would you like to stop at the "Cafe de Paris"?  But we have never stopped, probably due to the fact that when she suggests it we are usually whizzing down to get onto the Lion's Gate bridge to cross over to the North Shore and that's a kind of all or nothing commitment.  On this particular night, as we drove in a leisurely manner the opposite direction, we were trying to brainstorm a restaurant for dinner....and it popped into my head.  "How about the Cafe de Paris", I said.  At that, Cat burst into tears.  Well, after all those years of suggesting it to people, it turned out she had never been there!  We DID go there and had a perfect evening, right from the perfect parking spot, to the perfect French waitress (maybe Czech), to the most perfect dinner.  Here is my recipe for perfect French chicken:

1 onion, sliced

5 mushrooms, sliced

saute in olive oil and butter

Remove the skin from the chicken thighs

Coat in flour that has been seasoned in salt and pepper

Saute until  golden brown

Add 2 cloves of sliced garlic

Deglaze with a cup of white wine and 1 chicken bouillon cube

Season with 1 bay leaf, and simmer covered or 30 minutes, turning the chicken occasionally...

 

Then, before serving,  you MUST add capers and sliced olives! Delicious!

Yes, these are green beans!  But I doozied them up with lemon, garlic and butter, as well as a liberal shaking of salt and pepper .  I have to admit that I kind of like my green beans "over-cooked" - that is, SOFT.  But you can cook yours however you like them....

Serve with a baked potato - this is a Yukon Gold, which is my new fav potato

 

 "I cook with wine, sometime I even add it to the food"

W.C. Fields