Contributed by Jacki & Matt (From Melissa Clark’s Dinner: Changing the Game)

We spent the last few weeks of pregnancy following nightly recipes from Dinner, a cookbook from NYT’s Melissa Clark (aka Matt’s celebrity chef crush).  I made this phenomenal recipe for Matt the night before Nico was born.  While I was laboring, Matt made me a chicken sandwich from the leftovers.  Tasted great going down… too bad it didn’t stay down… ha!  

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp Asian Fish Sauce
• 2 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 Tbsp tamarind paste or concentrate
• 1/2 tsp red chile flakes
• Grated zest of 1 lime
• 1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane or minced
• 3 lbs bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (can also use skinless/boneless breasts or thighs – just reduce cooking time by 5-10 min)
• Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• Crisp lettuce leaves, such as bibb or romaine, for serving
• 1 sliced jalapeno, optional

Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

In large bowl, whisk fish sauce, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, tamarind, chile flakes, lime zest, & garlic.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Add chicken to the sauce in the bowl & turn to coat the pieces well. Arrange chicken on a rimmed baking sheet & pour the sauce over it. If you like, you can refrigerate the chicken at this point, covered, for up to 24 hrs.

Roast, turning the chicken occasionally, until it is cooked through & caramelized, 25-30 min.

Top chicken with plenty of black pepper & jalapeño slices if desired. Serve over lettuce leaves.

Side note: I think this chicken would also be good served with some rice.