Did I just say I was getting tired of chicken? I was wrong. . .


Wandering around Trader Joe's, I had no idea what I was going to make tonight. To be honest, I didn't even feel much like cooking; I was thinking of picking up a few necessities and maybe ordering out. Wellll. . I picked up a little of this and a little of that, still nothing really in mind... although this baby sweet corn for 59 cents a piece was inspiring. Hmmm. . .
Hey! Chicken legs! Let's give them a try. I know I had a few things already in the fridge, what could I do with chicken legs. Alright, I must admit I did have one thing on my mind: Mark Bittman's recipe for a simple chicken pot pie. I caught a video of Mr. Bittman making, basically a chicken pot pop tart - more of a biscuit baked on top of pot pie ingredients - he made it look very easy to make and very good to eat. So I guess I'm subliminally gathering pot pie ingredients at Trader Joe's...
Anyway, when I get home I realize I'm missing a few key ingredients to make a biscuit pot pie topping, and a few other things too. So I just started gathering things that might be good together. Boiled the corn on the cob. Cut the corn off the cob. Cut up some carrots, some celery, diced a medium sized onion. Sliced some crimini mushrooms. I'm literally just winging it at this point.
Cut to the chase: I ended up making really awesome roasted chicken legs and deeeep roasted vegetables, with a light corn tomato salad. As such:
Chicken drumsticks - 6 pieces, seasoned w/ salt/pepper/garlic. Pan seared. Added chopped carrots, celery, onion, garlic. Seared both sides of the chicken. Once the chicken was browned, jammed everything in the oven at 425 with some rosemary and thyme sprigs tossed throughout.
Corn salad: Cut corn off the cob (2 small cobs), diced 2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced avocado, half a small onion - diced, chopped garlic, chopped cilantro, diced cucumber, salt, pepper, few dashes of rice vinegar, one squeezed lime. Stir, let it marinade in itself.
Chicken cooks for 25 mins, then it's out of the oven. Pulled the chicken out of the pan (meat temp about 170), let it rest for 8-10 mins. Added 1/4 cup of chicken broth to the very cooked down, very roastedly awesome pan vegetables and herbs... scraping the bottom goodies of the pan, cooking this all down - kicking myself that I don't have some white wine around to add to this, but the broth did the trick in it's own way. This cooked down into roasted vegetable magic. See pics, and imagine deep roasted flavor.
I plated everything separately, more for the visual appreciation, but if I had guests, I would've put the vegetables on top of the chicken and eaten it all together w/ a fork and knife. But when I'm home alone, I tend to eat like a viking. I'll eventually get to taste everything together, but not in the most refined manner.
Overall, this had that autumn-y, Ye-Waverly-Inn-reminiscent, intense, roasted, browned, chicken/vegetable stewyness - just awesome. In major CONTRAST to all of that was the fresh, clean, summery corn salad. This was definitely a Clash of the Titans. But a clash in the same way of going from the jacuzzi, to the pool, to the jacuzzi, to the pool. . . you're loving the alternation, and how one makes you feel after being steeped in the other for a minute. Undecidedly indulgent. Freedom from the constraints of the seasons. Like wearing white after Labor Day and corduroy in July. Or eating heirloom tomatoes in . . . well you can pretty much get them all year round now, but that don't make it right!!
Zut Alors, c'est le appetit d'une homme content.
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