Chicken and Sweet Potato Skillet

The venison from last week went into the freezer in pieces — the hindquarters, the loins, the shoulder for braising, the trim for grinding later. I kept the backstraps out. The backstrap is the best cut on a deer: two long muscles running along the spine, fine-grained, almost no connective tissue, the kind of tender that does not need much from you. Danny used to save the backstraps for the night of the hunt, cook them in a cast iron skillet with butter and garlic and call it the cook's reward.

I made them Tuesday night. Butterflied and pounded lightly, seasoned with salt and pepper and the sumac rub, seared in a dry cast iron until they had a crust, then finished with a big knob of butter and two crushed garlic cloves and fresh thyme from the pot on Hannah's kitchen windowsill. Two minutes per side. Any more and you have ruined it — venison backstrap goes from perfect to tough in about ninety seconds past the right temperature. Medium-rare, pink through the center, rested five minutes before cutting. That is the whole recipe.

Hannah made wild rice on the side. I substituted in my head toward kanuchi broth because I am always substituting things mentally toward more traditional Cherokee, but her wild rice was actually excellent so I ate it without comment. Kai ate a whole piece of venison and looked like he was making notes. He has been eating venison since he could eat solid food — it is just the meat in our house, the normal thing, the same way some kids grow up eating chicken every night.

I drove out to Terry's Saturday with a package of ground venison and the two shoulder roasts. Danny was inside that day — too cold for the porch. He was in his recliner with the oxygen running and a Western playing quietly on the television. I put the meat in Terry's freezer and sat down next to him and we watched the Western for a while. He told me about a hunting trip he took with his father when Danny was sixteen, over in the Cookson Hills, where they spent three days in the woods with only beans and dried corn and whatever they killed. They came back with two deer and a wild turkey and his father told him that was the food his great-great-grandparents had eaten and that knowing how to get it meant nobody could ever completely take it from you.

I have thought about that story all week. The land and the knowledge together. Danny learned it from his father. I am learning it from Danny, in a lawn chair, watching Westerns, while the oxygen machine hums.

Danny’s lesson has stayed with me all week — that the knowledge of how to feed yourself is something no one can fully take away. I don’t always have backstraps to pull from the freezer, but I can always get a cast iron pan hot and build something real from what’s there. This chicken and sweet potato skillet runs on the same logic as those butterflied loins: high heat, good fat, a few honest seasonings, and the patience to let the pan do its job without fussing it to death.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/4 lbs), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, for serving

Instructions

Season the chicken. In a bowl, toss chicken pieces with smoked paprika, cumin, thyme, salt, pepper, and cayenne if using. Let sit while you prep the vegetables.
Start the sweet potatoes. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add sweet potato cubes in a single layer. Cook without stirring for 4–5 minutes until the undersides are golden, then stir and continue cooking 4–5 minutes more until just tender and caramelized at the edges. Transfer to a plate.
Sear the chicken. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet. Add the chicken pieces in a single layer — do not crowd the pan. Sear undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until a deep golden crust forms, then flip and cook 3–4 minutes more until cooked through (internal temperature 165°F). Transfer to the plate with the sweet potatoes.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits, for 5–6 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Bring it together. Return the chicken and sweet potatoes to the skillet. Toss everything to combine and heat through for 2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Serve. Scatter fresh parsley over the top and serve directly from the skillet.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chicken and Sweet Potato Skillet — The Cook’s Reward, Whatever Meat You Have