Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken thighs
  
• whole-wheat couscous w/green onions
  
• green salad bar
• King cake!
• hurricanes!
  

Hey! Happy Mardi Gras, y'all!

I told myself I was going to wait until daylight saving time (only a week and a half away now!) to start grilling every damn thing but, well, I lied. To myself. It happens. It was sunny and in the low 80s today, people -- how am I supposed to resist grilling under those conditions?! I ask you.

So yeah, I grilled some chicken thighs. They were bone-in, skin on and I just sprinkled them on both sides with some garlic pepper and Jane's Krazy Salt. I grilled them skin-side-down over medium-high heat until the skin was nice and golden brown with sexy grill marks, then I flipped them skin-side up for a few minutes, then I moved them to an unlit burner (with the other two burners turned up to high heat) and left them alone for a good 45 minutes. So, so yummy! I swear, grilled chicken thighs make EVERYTHING better (even having two members of the family on antibiotics at the same time, oy).

The couscous was packaged. I just stirred in some sliced green onions before serving. Easy!

The salad bar tonight was green leaf lettuce, sliced carrots from the garden, and more sliced green onions.

The King cake was purchased at my local supermarket bakery this morning. I'm guessing not every grocery store in the nation rolls out the King cakes on Fat Tuesday. Gotta love the South, y'all! My supermarket's version of a King cake is really just a big cinnamon roll type thing with powdered sugar icing and colored sprinkles. It's SO good, though. I'm going to have more for breakfast tomorrow with my coffee!

I improvised the hurricanes. They are NOT traditional -- I was just working with what I had. But for what it's worth:

6 oz. pineapple juice
6 oz. orange juice
1 oz. grenadine
2 oz. silver rum
2 oz. dark rum
2 oz. spiced rum (Bacardi 151 is traditional, but I didn't have any)

Shake all ingredients together and serve over crushed ice in hurricane glasses with straws. Makes about 2 or 3 depending on how big your glasses are and how much ice you use.

Woo! I am stuffed. Fat Tuesday, indeed!

I couldn't help myself

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken thighs
  
• steamed Texmati rice
• crunchy vegetable salad
  

We had gorgeous weather here yesterday so I decided I wanted to grill outdoors for supper. I know! Crazy! It meant eating a little earlier than usual so I wasn't grilling in the dark, but oh dudes. I have SO missed grilling!

The chicken thighs were boneless and skinless. I just sprinkled them with prepared fajita seasoning, then marinated them in a mixture of fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice and EVOO. I grilled them about six minutes per side over high heat (they were pretty big) and they were DELICIOUS! I am really looking forward to longer days so I can get back to grilling on a regular basis. Of course, you know by September I'll be sick of it and craving roasts and stews.

The rice was just steamed in the microwave. Easy!

I was channeling my inner Jamie Oliver with this salad. I was tired of green salad but wanted something fresh to go with the grilled chicken. So, what I did was slice up some carrots, celery and radishes in the food processor (using the slicing blade, NOT the knife blade) and then I sliced some green onions and chopped some broccoli by hand. I whomped it all into a big bowl, added some chopped fresh parsley and cilantro, then drizzled on some fresh lemon juice and EVOO and seasoned it with a bit of salt before tossing it all together. It was really good! Nice and crunchy and fresh-tasting, just like I wanted. Mint would have been a nice addition, but mine all bit the dust after our first frost.

The radishes, broccoli, cilantro and the orange I used in the chicken marinade were all from our CSA. The parsley was from my own garden. I've also got thyme and rosemary going strong out there, along with my bay tree. I love using fresh herbs in winter!

No more grilling

Tonight's Menu

• roasted chicken thighs
  
• buttered egg noodles
• steamed broccoli
  

I hate the end of daylight saving time, y'all. HATE IT. Because that means it gets dark right around the time I'm starting to cook dinner, and I am not a big fan of grilling in the dark. Sure, we have floodlights out back and whatnot, but it's the PRINCIPLE of the thing. Grilling in the dark just feels WRONG. So while I far prefer my chicken grilled, this time of year roasting is where it's at.

So, all I did with these thighs (bone in, skin on, ten of 'em) was whomp them into a pan, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, snipped fresh rosemary and fresh thyme, then pop them in the oven at 450 degrees F for about 45 minutes to an hour. They came out crispy, juicy and delicious even though they weren't grilled.

Buttered egg noodles are pretty self explanatory, right? Just boil some noodles? And then drain them? And butter them? Yeah. Easy.

The broccoli was steamed in the microwave.

Super easy dinner, but DAMN I am going to miss grilling these next few months! Hello, it's still in the 70s and 80s here!

Chicken skin revisited

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken thighs
  
• herb-onion focaccia
  
• garlicky green beans
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Okay, well this was just plain yum.

The girl and I decided that while chicken drumsticks were an iffy proposition with braces, chicken THIGHS with the bones in and skin on would probably be okay. So that's what I made. I just sprinkled them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper as usual, grilled them skin-side down over medium-high heat until the skin was nicely browned (but not BLACK this time; I watched them pretty closely), then moved them all skin-side up to an unlit burner and left them alone for 35 minutes or so. They were crispy, juicy and delicious!

The focaccia was made with the master recipe boule dough from the book. I topped it with snipped fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, sliced red onion, EVOO, coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Yum!

The green beans were from my garden! Yay! I had thought that my Kentucky Wonder pole beans weren't setting fruit, but it turns out the vines were so freakin' dense that I just couldn't SEE any. I poked around in there yesterday and managed to harvest a good-sized handful of beans. Some of them had obviously been on there a while and looked more like broad beans that you would pop out of the pod than string beans that you would eat all in one gulp, but oh well! I cut them in 2-inch pieces and simmered them in water for a good 15 minutes to make sure they'd be tender. Then I sauteed a large minced garlic clove in some EVOO in a skillet and tossed in the beans to get them nice and garlicky. Season with salt and pepper and you're good to go! Now I just have to remember to check the bean vines more often so I can get them while they're still young and tender!

I'm trying to move away from bagged, prepared salad greens for no particular reason other than pure contrariness on my part. So tonight's salad "bar" was torn green leaf lettuce (from the store and out of season, ugh), the last of the cherry tomatoes from my garden, and the last of the sliced carrots from the CSA. The kids apparently think green leaf lettuce = poison so they didn't eat any (they had chopped raw apples instead), but DH and I thought it was worlds better than our usual salads made with packaged lettuce. Yay! Non-boring salad, for a change!

A farewell to chicken skin

Tonight's Menu

• herb-marinated chicken thighs
  
• toasted rice
• steamed broccoli
  

Hey, everyone! Sorry for the lack of posting. We've been busy, busy, busy over here and I've been falling back on some old standbys, meal-wise. Up until a few days ago, that is, because that's when the girl child got braces! And the boy is getting his on Friday! Yipes! Suddenly I've had to banish popcorn from the house and re-think things like corn on the cob and chicken drumsticks.

Soo, tonight's chicken was made with boneless, skinless thighs. I know, I KNOW, I always say that the skin is my favorite part of the chicken, but I'm here to tell you that these were really good even without it! All I did was dump the thighs into a big zipper bag. Then I mixed together some fresh lemon juice, EVOO, minced garlic, a TON of minced fresh herbs (flat-leaf parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme -- maybe I should call this Scarborough Fair Chicken?), kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I dumped the herb mixture over the chicken thighs, sealed the bag, and then sort of massaged it around so that all the thighs were coated. Then I popped it into the fridge for a couple of hours before grilling the thighs over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes per side. They were juicy and delicious, the girl was able to eat them without breaking a wire on her braces, and we hardly missed the skin, I SWEAR!

Okay, now for the rice. The girl recently insisted that I used to make a brown rice that she absolutely loved. Well, I can only remember making brown rice maybe TWICE before, and as I recall, everyone hated the texture of it. Then I remembered that before we got our current microwave, which has a "smart" setting for rice, I used to make it on the stovetop and I would toast the rice in a bit of butter before adding the water. This gave it a golden, nutty-brown appearance, and everyone DID love it that way. So I made it again tonight to see if maybe that was the dish that the girl remembered.

All I did was melt two tablespoons of unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat (you could use salted, but I didn't have any), then add a cup of uncooked long-grain white rice and toss it around until it was lightly toasted. This doesn't take very long and you have to watch it because it'll go from toasted to burnt REALLY fast. As soon as it turns golden brown and releases a nutty aroma, add two cups of water and bring it to a boil. As soon as it boils, cover and reduce to a low simmer. Then just leave it alone for about 20 minutes before taking it off the heat and letting it sit, covered, for 5 minutes or so. Fluff with a fork, season with salt and pepper, and serve. I had forgotten how much I like rice cooked this way!

(Full disclosure: the girl said this wasn't QUITE what she remembered. She still insists it was BROWN rice. I have no memory of this whatsoever. Back to the drawing board, I guess.)

The broccoli was steamed in the microwave. I'm not cooking THAT on the stovetop unless it's in a stir-fry!

My new go-to meal

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• rosemary-onion focaccia
• leftover zucchini with bacon & onions
  
• green salad "bar"
  

This is becoming my new go-to meal this summer. Tonight's dinner was basically a repeat of our dinner from June 4 of this year, except that we had the leftover zucchini from Saturday, and tonight's salad bar featured purchased mixed lettuce, sliced carrots from the CSA, sliced cucumbers from the CSA, sliced banana peppers from the CSA, and mixed cherry tomatoes from my dad's garden. Yum!

Grilled chicken

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• rosemary-onion focaccia
• summer squash with bacon & onion
  
• green salad "bar"
  

This is how I make my grilled chicken. I'm not saying this is how YOU should do it, but this is what works for me with my grill setup. All I do is take some bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks, give them a rinse, dry them with paper towels and then sprinkle them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper. Then I set up my three-burner gas grill for slightly indirect grilling, turning two burners up to medium-high and leaving the other one off. I put the chicken skin-side-down over the two lit burners for about five minutes or until the skins have picked up some color (sometimes the color they pick up is BLACK, but that's okay). Then I turn them over and move them to the unlit burner, leaving them to cook for about 30 minutes or until done. I have to babysit them quite a bit because I'm still getting used to this new grill, but so far I've managed not to dry them out or undercook them with this method. Feel free to use an instant-read meat thermometer to make sure they're done (around 170 degrees F or so).

I am so excited about this focaccia, because it came from a recent cookbook purchase, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I can't reproduce the recipe here because of copyright issues, but they also have a blog that, if you scroll down far enough, lists the master recipe (for boule bread). That's the dough I used, for those who have the book. I just whomped off a canteloupe-sized hunk of dough as instructed, stretched it into a focaccia shape on a silpat-covered baking sheet, layered on some red onions (from the CSA) sliced paper-thin along with some snipped fresh rosemary (from my herb garden), kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of EVOO. Then I baked it at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until it turned golden. (In the book, you bake most of the breads over a broiler pan into which you pour some hot tap water, so the bread steams. I TOTALLY forgot that step until the bread had been in the oven for a full 20 minutes. It still came out great, just took a little longer to cook!)

Everyone LOVED this focaccia! So far we give this particular bread cookbook a HUGE thumbs up. I made a loaf of plain boule from it the other day and that was awesome, too. I plan to post a full review of this book pretty soon, so check back for that!

ANYWAY, again with the squash, bacon and onions, I KNOW! I can't help it. I love it like that. This time I made it with crookneck bi-color summer squash from the CSA, a red onion that was NOT from the CSA but from a local farmstand (and did not include the green tops, more's the pity) and some random applewood-smoked bacon I had in the freezer. And I didn't bother with any herbs, just salt and pepper. YUM!

Tonight's salad bar was just there for the people who don't like squash (read: everyone but me) and included purchased mixed lettuce, sliced cukes from the CSA, and chopped baby carrots. BORING. But whatever.

Dinner with the folks

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken thighs & drumsticks
  
• grilled potato-onion packets
  
• grilled zucchini
• green salad bar
  

Yes, you read that right. Every single element of tonight's dinner was grilled, except the salad. My parents came over for dinner and I was in full-on cookout mode. The 90-degree temperatures helped with that a bit, I think.

Grilling chicken is SO much easier on my new grill than it was on my old one. The old one only had two burners and didn't do indirect heat well AT ALL. But the new one has THREE burners and works a treat for stuff like this!

Sooo, here is how dinner came together:

First I cut some small red potatoes into quarter-inch slices, then did the same with a small sweet yellow onion. I alternated layers of potato and onion on a big sheet of heavy-duty foil, adding little dabs of butter along with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, then folded the whole thing into a big foil packet.

I lit TWO of the grill burners, leaving the third burner unlit, and put the foil packet on the bread shelf of the grill over the unlit side. I left it there while the other stuff was cooking and it came out perfect -- nice tender potatoes and sweet, soft onions. Yum!

While the grill was heating up (with the foil packet of potatoes and onions already on it), I rinsed the chicken thighs and drumsticks, dried them on paper towels, then sprinkled them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper. I stuck them skin-side down on the lit burners of the grill over medium-high heat for maybe 4-5 minutes just to crisp up the skins, then flipped them to skin-side up and moved them over to the unlit burner. Then I turned the other two burners to low and let the chicken cook, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes (I was making a LOT of chicken).

About 10 minutes before the chicken was done, I sliced a couple of zucchinis (from the CSA share) lengthwise, brushed them with EVOO, sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, then cranked one of the lit grill burners up to medium-high and grilled them for just a couple of minutes per side (same way I made them the other night). Yum!

Tonight's salad bar was just mixed lettuces (from the grocery store, because my garden lettuces suck right now), sliced cucumber (ditto), sliced baby carrots (tritto), quartered tomatoes (er, quitto?), and rings of green bell and yellow banana peppers, both from the CSA share.

A perfect summer dinner, and actually pretty easy once the small amount of prep was done.

MORE grilling in February

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• grilled sweet onion
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Oh dudes. This very nearly went terribly wrong.

Remember when I said it was really warm this weekend? Yeah, yesterday it got up into the 90s. Which is just insane, but it made me want to grill that much more. Now, I read the weather forecast. I knew a cold front was supposed to come through last night, and that today it would be chilly and windy. I just didn't realize HOW chilly and windy. But I had promised my kids grilled chicken for dinner (DH the poultry-allergic guy was working late) and I was determined to deliver.

So, it took forever to light the grill because of the wind. And also because of the wind, the inside of the grill didn't get nearly as hot as I really needed it to. And so everything took FOREVER to cook, but it all worked out okay in the end.

First I rinsed and dried the chicken parts, then I sprinkled them on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and freshly ground pepper. Long story short (I had to check them A LOT for doneness, and of course every time I opened the grill, the temperature dropped FURTHER) I ended up cooking them for about 18 minutes skin side down, and another 20 or so skin side up. They actually came out really juicy and delicious with crisp, flavorful skin, but it took about twice as long as usual to get them to that point.

The onion was a good idea in theory. In practice, the lower temperature of the grill kind of worked against me. What I did was peel and slice a sweet yellow onion (a 1015 or Walla Walla or Maui or something like that), layer the slices with dabs of butter, salt and freshly ground pepper, wrap it in heavy-duty foil, and cook it alongside the chicken, turning it halfway through the cooking time. It ended up not cooking and caramelizing as much as I was hoping. Maybe it would have worked better if I'd laid it out in a single layer inside the foil instead of re-assembling it into a round onion shape. Oh well. It was still flavorful, and even the girl child, who NEVER eats onions, thought it was good. Go figure!

Tonight's salad bar was mixed greens, sliced carrots, sliced cucumber, and grape tomatoes.

Come back, warm weather! I'm not done grilling!

Delicious chicken

Tonight's Menu

• roasted chicken thighs & drumsticks
  
• roasted Brussels sprouts
• green salad "bar"
  

Oh dudes. I loves me some chicken legs.

I had six thighs and six drumsticks (bone-in, skin-on in both cases). I rinsed them, patted them dry, stuck them in a roasting pan, sprinkled them liberally with coarse salt, gave them a few shakes of freshly ground pepper, scattered some fresh thyme leaves and snipped fresh rosemary on top, then roasted them at 425 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Perfection.

I got the Brussels sprouts recipe from a recent post on Slashfood. Except I did them at 425 degrees instead of 400, because I cooked them alongside the chicken. I should have knocked back the cooking time accordingly, but I didn't, and they were a bit overdone (but still edible, especially for someone like me who will eat damn near anything).

Tonight's salad bar was butter lettuce and radicchio with sliced baby carrots and grape tomatoes on the side.

Something different

Tonight's Menu

• cinnamon chicken
  
• roasted garlic and olive oil couscous
  
• steamed broccoli
  

I'm an avid fan of Anne's Food, and a couple of days ago she posted a recipe (and photo!) for cinnamon chicken that got my mouth watering. I decided to make it today. It was WAY yummy, though my skin didn't get all that crispy and burned a bit. Maybe I added too much honey. Or screwed up the Celsius-to-Fahrenheit conversion somehow.

The couscous was Near East brand, from a box. I KNOW.

Broccoli was steamed in the microwave, as usual.

Those who don't like chicken and/or are allergic to it had leftover chili and cornbread.

Perfect summer supper

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken leg quarters
• grilled onion and potato packet
• salad of baby spinach and strawberries
  

Oh y'all. This was SO GOOD.

The chicken was easy. I just sprinkled each leg quarter with some Jane's Krazy Salt and freshly ground pepper, then grilled them skin-side down over medium-high heat for five minutes or so to get the skin nicely browned and crisp. After that I flipped them to skin-side-up, turned the grill down to low, and let them cook for another 20 minutes or so. They were tender, juicy and delicious.

The onion and potato packet was likewise easy. I just thinly sliced some onion and some little red-skinned potatoes (because that's what I had; do use a waxy vs. mealy potato, though) and layered them in a piece of heavy-duty foil with some butter, salt and freshly ground pepper. I sealed it all up nice and tight and stuck it on the grill when I turned the chicken. It was done when the chicken was done, and it was SO YUMMY. The onion got all sweet and slightly caramelized, and the potato was nicely tender. Mmmm!

The spinach salad could not have been easier; just dump a bag of pre-washed baby spinach into a bowl and add halved (or quartered or sliced) fresh strawberries. I served it with a bottled raspberry vinaigrette.

I washed everything down with a nice glass of white sangria. Earlier today I combined a bottle of pinot grigio (it's what I had; just use whatever white wine is laying around) with some cognac and a can of peach nectar. Then I sliced in a couple of fresh nectarines and let it all kind of get happy for a couple of hours. To serve, fill a collins glass (that's the tall one) with ice and then pour it about half full of the wine mixture. Scoop out some nectarines and drop those in the glass, add a couple of fresh raspberries, then top it off with club soda (or if you like it sweeter, use a lemon-lime soda). It's kind of like a homemade wine cooler, but NOTHING like that pre-bottled crap you buy in the store. So good, and excellent with grilled chicken!

Yum!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• leftover big-ass green salad
  

Is there anything yummier than grilled chicken? I think not.

Tonight's dinner was dead easy. All I did was bash up some dried rosemary with the mortar and pestle, add some Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then sprinkle that liberally over several chicken drumsticks and thighs. I started them on the grill over medium-high heat to get the skin nice and crispy (I don't mind a bit of black on the skin, but if you do you'll want to watch them closely during this phase), turning every couple of minutes for a total of maybe ten, then turned them down to low and cooked for another 20 minutes, turning once during that time.

My crappy gas grill doesn't do indirect heat well, so I'm stuck turning both burners down as low as they will go for stuff like this. How long YOU cook them will depend on how big the pieces of meat are and how hot your grill is, so for God's sake use this as a GENERAL guideline and, er, watch your meat.

Anyhoo, with this particular meat on my particular grill, this technique worked a treat and it was delicious. Crisp, nicely seasoned skin and delicious tender smoky meat that didn't dry out. DH worked late (he is allergic to poultry, so whenever I serve it you can assume he isn't here) and the Badger children and I absolutely gorged ourselves until we nearly dozed off in our plates!

Yum, indeed!

Mixed grill

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops and chicken leg quarters
  
• chuffed potatoes
  
• caramelized brussels sprouts with toasted almonds
• leftover salad
  

I KNOW! I have not been posting. Sorry about that. It's mostly been same old, same old around here (except that the other night I made spiced pork tenderloin with grilled stone fruits -- apricots and peaches -- and it was FABULOUS).

Anyhoo, I finally made a trip to the natural food store for the GOOD chicken so I decided to grill tonight. I sprinkled both chicken and pork with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper (the chicken got a coating of EVOO beforehand). I grilled the chicken for 10 minutes per side over medium-high heat, then turned off the burner they were on (gas grill) and left them there while I grilled the chops for 4 minutes per side on the other burner. Other than the chicken catching fire multiple times, it all turned out swell.

Chuffed potatoes were the usual deal -- red potatoes cut in half or quarters, parboiled then chuffed up in a hot pan with some butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

I have made the caramelized brussels sprouts before. This time I made the recipe exactly except I substituted toasted almond slivers for the pistachios.

Vinho Verde was a nice accompaniment to the meal.

Yummy chicken

Tonight's Menu

• Nigella's slow-roasted chicken with garlic and lemon
  
• quinoa
  
• big-ass salad
  

Yes, I made Nigella's chicken again. It's SO DAMN YUMMY. This time I used thighs and drumsticks. DH had leftover meatballs.

Yummy leftovers

Tonight's Menu

• leftover roasted chicken thighs with garlic and potatoes
  
• caramelized brussels sprouts
  

I had a hankering for the brussels sprouts I made on Thanksgiving, so I whipped some up to go along with leftovers from the other night. I used the same recipe as last time, but this time I steamed the sprouts in the microwave instead of on the stovetop, included the onions, and omitted the nuts. These are SO GOOD, y'all. Definitely my new favorite way to eat sprouts.

And believe it or not, my house smells AMAZING right now. When's the last time you were able to say that after cooking brussels sprouts?!

Chicken!

Tonight's Menu

• roasted chicken thighs with garlic and potatoes
  
• green salad
  

DH the poultry-allergic guy worked late tonight, so the kids and I had chicken. Well, actually the boy and I had chicken and the girl had a Toaster Scramble. Argh.

I had some nice bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, which I rinsed and patted dry and tossed into a baking pan (skin side up). I added some halved tiny red-skinned potatoes and a whole head of garlic, broken into unpeeled cloves. Then I drizzled on some EVOO, snipped some fresh rosemary over it, sprinkled on some kosher salt and ground some cracked pepper over the whole thing. I popped it in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 45 minutes and Bob's your uncle!

It was way yummy. The boy is becoming dangerously addicted to my chicken. Mwahaha!

My entire house smells like garlic

Tonight's Menu

• chicken thighs, slow-roasted with garlic and lemon
• tiny red potatoes, parboiled then chuffed up in a hot pan with butter
  
• leftover gigantic salad
  

I made this chicken dish back in August and have been craving it like mad. It smells soooo good when it's cooking and it's incredibly yummy.

Finally got around to making potatoes tonight!

She's got legs

Tonight's Menu

• roasted chicken thighs and drumsticks
  
• leftover steamed rice
  
• green salad
  

There was plenty of pork and pineapple leftover from last night so I let DH have that while the kids and I had roasted chicken leg parts. Yum! I'm going to make an Asian-inspired chicken salad from the leftovers, I think. I'll let y'all know how it comes out!

In which DH the poultry-allergic guy eats a TV dinner

Tonight's Menu

• slow-roasted chicken with garlic and lemon
  
• quinoa
  
• gigantic salad
  

I checked out a copy of Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer from the library recently, and her recipe for slow-roasted chicken with garlic and lemon sounded FABULOUS so I tried a variation on it tonight. Poor DH, who is allergic to poultry, had to make do with a frozen Marie Callender's dinner (his choice, not mine!).

Nigella's recipe calls for a 3-4 lb. cut-up chicken, but I had a couple of pounds of thighs (skin on, bones in) so I used those. Toss them in a roasting pan with two lemons cut into eighths, a head of garlic broken into individual UNpeeled cloves, some thyme (she uses fresh, I used dried) and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Once you've tossed everything around, spread things out a little and then turn all the chicken pieces skin side up, sprinkle on maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup dry white wine (I used pinot grigio because it's what I had) and some freshly ground pepper, then cover the pan tightly with foil. She cooks hers for 2 hours at 300, then uncovers it, boosts the temperature to 400, and cooks it 30-45 minutes longer. Since I only had two pounds of meat, I did mine at 275 for the first two hours, then uncovered and turned it up to 375 for 45 minutes. The skin was crisp, the meat was moist and tender, the garlic was caramelized -- delicious!

This was a great "family" dinner, but I would not hesitate to make it for company. Be sure to eat the garlic along with the meat! Nigella advocates eating the lemons too, but mine didn't go soft/candied enough for that.