Sunday Recipes

It’s been quite awhile since I posted a recipe around here, and by posting these, I’m clearly cheating, because I saw them over on Fancy Toast last week. But I don’t know how many of my loyal readers also go look at her hilarious (and gorgeous) food blog, and I do want you to try these yummy recipes. If you peek at her site, you’ll see that she wrote the post tongue in cheek, as though she were cooking parrots rather than chicken. She has some mighty loud and annoying wild parakeets in her neighborhood, and is hoping to scare them off with dangerous sounding recipes. I totally understand, having had plenty of homicidal thoughts about a certain blue jay last spring. So, without further ado, here are Fancy Toast’s yummy recipes, in which I am substituting much more affordable chicken for the parrot she suggests.  The pictures are mine, hers are far better.  (She also has a third recipe, but the local Safeway doesn’t have red curry paste, so I skipped it.)

Roasted Chicken with Orange Blossom Honey
~adapted from Charlie Trotter by Fancy Toast
Ingredients:
1 cup orange blossom honey
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 3-4 pound chicken
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

The honey glaze creates a deliciously crispy skin. Even if you don’t eat the skin, prepare it this way, and the meat underneath remains moist and flavorful.

Glaze:
Place honey and stock in small saucepan and whisk over medium heat for 5 minutes, until smooth.

Bird:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place bird in roasting rack in a roasting pan and season with salt and pepper. Generously brush the glaze all over the chicken and roast for 45 – 60 minutes, or until the juices run clear (if using smaller birds, less time will be needed). Brush on additional glaze every 15 minutes during the roasting. Remove from oven, let rest for 10 minutes, then carve.

J’s note…mine didn’t brown as much as I would have liked, and I was afraid that if I left it in too long, the breast meat would dry out…so I put it under the broiler for a few minutes, and watched it closely…worked like a charm. 🙂

Chicken with Artichokes and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
~Fancy Toast original recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup white wine

1 pound chicken tenders (I used chicken thighs, because that’s what we had in the freezer)
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
6 oz. jar artichokes (I used marinated)
4 oz. sun-dried tomatoes, sliced thinly
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper the chicken tenders on each side.
In a Dutch Oven or a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
Cook the chicken until just browned, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside on a plate.
Add the shallots to the now-empty pan and cook until tender, about 4 minutes.
Add the garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the wine and scrape off any browned bits from the bottom.
Return the bird to the pan, along with the artichokes and tomatoes.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the bird is cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the pan and tent with foil to keep warm. If the sauce is too thin, increase the heat until the sauce thickens to the desired consistency.
Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.
Spoon sauce and vegetables over the bird. Sprinkle with parsley.

J’s note – I wasn’t sure whether to use the marinade from the artichokes in the sauce or not, so I did.  I thought it was a bit overpowering, but Ted liked it a lot, and said he thought it gave the dish a lot of flavor. Next time I’ll try it without, and see what difference that makes.