Still snowing, and I’m not the only one ready for a change in the weather. Bob pointed out this doe sleeping under a big ponderosa pine in the early dawn.
One of the best things to do when it won’t stop snowing is to cook. I like to cook a lot. When I was making honey mustard chicken last night, Bob said that in his opinion, that recipe was a whole lot more interesting than a steady diet of animal photos in the snow. So I pulled out my trusty camera and did a photo essay of dinner. Here goes:
Honey mustard works with pork or chicken, but my current favorite is chicken thighs so that’s what I’m using. In addition, a few staples.
You can use up your oldest back-of-the-shelf crystallized honey for this dish, since it cooks a long time. I use either Dijon or stone ground mustard, depending. Some people may not think heavy cream is a staple, but I’m from Vermont.
Start with a cast iron pan and a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. While you’re waiting for the oil to get hot, run the chicken under water and strip off the fat.
The chicken thighs go skin down, and should nestle together so each one is cozy but not crowded.
Then wash your hands, and use your fingers to smear a thick layer of mustard on the flesh. Wash again.
Over medium heat, cook these thighs until the skin is brown, flip ‘em, and wait until they’re fully browned on the other side too. You can’t rush this step because the recipe doesn’t work unless you have a crusty pan, and it’s not very good when it’s scorched.
Once both sides are browned and the pan has a brown crust on it, take out the meat, turn down the heat to low, and pour in 1/2 an inch of heavy cream. 
Use your spatula to scrape down that pan until it’s clean. When all of the crusty brown bits are mixed in with the heavy cream, and the fat from the chicken has mixed smoothly with the cream, and it’s thick and reduced, dump the whole bowl of chicken and juices back into the pan.
Add chicken broth until it almost covers the thighs, maybe an inch or so in the pan.
Turn up the heat to medium, and stir it all up. Add a big spoonful of honey.
No, not that much honey! Less than this… I got carried away posing the spoon. You shouldn’t have that problem.
Mix it all up, add salt, and let it cook down over medium low until the thighs are falling apart in a thick mahogany glaze.
You’ll say, Dadgumit, that is a mighty fine way to cook chicken.
Served over rice, with salad, this makes a serious winter meal.
And this is, after all, a serious winter.
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