You say "Poulet au Vinaigre"--I say "Vinegar Chicken"

Our courtyard at dusk while I cooked the chicken below

We're about to wrap up this year's stay in San Miguel de Allende and are in the process of eating our way through what's left in the freezer. Last night, I found a bag of chicken thighs from Costco and started thumbing through my "To Try" recipes in the "Lareau/Caltrider Recipes" notebook that we maintain in Evernote. I came across a "Chicken with Vinegar" recipe from Mark Bittman, former lead food writer for the NYT Sunday magazine, that he originally published in a 1998 Times article he titled "THE MINIMALIST; A Three-Star Peasant Dish."

The story is that the dish was popularized by Paul Bocuse at his Michelin three-star restaurant, Auberge du Pont de Collonges, near Lyons, France. Bocuse supposedly learned the recipe in his youth while apprenticing at La Mere Brazier one of the Lyonaisse restaurants know as "les bonnes meres" because they are run by women.

In addition to its out-of-world flavors, the dish will give up its "To Try" tag in favor of a "***" tag in recognition of the ease with which it can be thrown together:

• Throw the thighs, skin-down, into a skillet containing a couple tablespoons of hot oil and leave them untouched for about five minutes, until nicely browned

Thighs browning

• Flip the thighs over, salt and pepper, and cook for a few more minutes

Browned and ready to be popped into oven

Remove chicken from skillet to oven-proof platter, place in 450 degree oven and cook until internal temp is 160 degrees (10-15 minutes)

Turn off oven, leaving chicken in oven

Make sauce of shallots/scallions, vinegar, water and butter according to the directions in "The Minimalist" article linked above (adding the butter is not optional but a must)

Pour sauce over plated chicken and serve.

For those of you who would like to read more about the dish, there's a wonderfully nostalgic piece about a slighlty different version, Arlette's Poulet au Vinaigre, in the March 6, 2014 WSJ, though you may have to pay to access it.
We served our thighs last night with slabs of grilled cauliflower in anchovy/lemon sauce, a dish of Pat's own creativity and handiwork:

• slice cauliflower into 1/2" slabs, coat with oil and grill until slightly charred
• meanwhile, make a dressing by combining chopped raw scallions, fresh lemon juice, 4-5 chopped anchovies and olive oil;
• pour over grilled cauliflower and serve at room temperature

On the side: sliced red tomatoes, spotted with olive oil on a bed of home-grown arugula.