Sweet-and-sour chicken thighs with carrots

My favorite family dinner ever.

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• Best for: dinner, serves 4 with a little leftover

• Difficulty: medium

• Time: 1 1/2 hours total

• Recommended pairings: white rice (incredible with the sauce), a green salad

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My mom has been cooking this on every special occasion for years. It will definitely be the first meal I make the next time I get to make a family-style dinner.

Ingredients

2 1/4 - 2 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs OR chicken thighs with skin and bone, trimmed of excess fat

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp paprika (more if needed to coat chicken)

2 teaspoons cinnamon (more if needed to coat chicken)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 large white or red onion, halved and sliced into strips

6 large/8 medium carrots, cut into slices

8 small/6 large cloves of garlic (less if preferred, but garlic is an incredible part of this dish)

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

4 tbsp mild honey

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley/cilantro, additional for table

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First...

Do all your chopping.

Pat chicken dry. Stir together with 1 1/2 tsp salt, paprika, cinnamon, pepper and rub onto chicken.

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet until hot but not smoking.

Add chicken in two batches and brown, turning over once, about 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to separate plate.

Then...

Discard fat from skillet except about 3 tbsp, add the onion and carrots.

Sprinkle with rest of salt, add pepper to taste, and cook over medium heat.

Stir occasionally until onion is softened and beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stir occasionally.

Finally...

Stir together water, lemon juice and honey until blended.

Return chicken to skillet, nestling it into vegetables.

Add the water mixture, to skillet, cook over low heat, covered, until chicken is cooked through and carrots are tender, 25-30 minutes.

(If using skin-on chicken especially, you may need to skim some fat from the sauce.)

Add salt to taste.

Sprinkle with parsley/cilantro before serving. (Put some extra on the table!)

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What I did with my leftovers: Dad's Lunch!

This chicken was seasoned but never put into the dish. The next day, I sautéed it for about 7 minutes on each side and added fresh parsley.

Then, I removed the chicken from the pan and added my favorite San Marzano tomatoes and a chopped portobello, cooking for about 5 minutes.

Finally, I removed the veggies from the pan and added about 3 cups of spinach, cooking down to my (Dad's) liking. I added 1/2 an avocado and maldon sea salt.