Fideos With Chicken Thighs and Kale

With a crispy top hiding a layer of jammy, tomato-y noodles, this one-skillet meal is anything but one-note. There's flavor at every stage. After you've rendered the fat from the chicken thighs, you'll use that schmaltz to sauté the fideos (that's Spanish for “noodles”). This technique not only gives the pieces of thin, broken pasta a nutty taste, but it also crisps them up so that they're able to withstand the heat of the oven and absorb the slow-cooked onion, garlic, and tomato paste mixture (a.k.a. your soffritto). The not-so-secret secret ingredient is the anchovies: You won't be able to pick them out of the crowd, but if you skip them, you'll miss the salt and umami.