Recipe: Oven Roasted Chicken with Garlic-Lemon Red Potatoes and Broccoli

Tonight, I wanted something pasta-free. *GASP* I know, I know: pasta is my thing. It's my favorite ingredient and a majority of my posts are recipes involving pasta. However, while I would happily eat pasta every night forever and ever, sometimes, it's good to switch things up. When I came across this recipe on Tastespotting today, I knew I had to recreate it. I only made some minor changes—I subbed in broccoli for the green beans (I've never been a fan of green beans; asparagus could work really well in this too); added a little butter to the lemon-olive oil mixture; and added thyme, onion, and fresh lemon peel to kick the dish up a notch. The result was a delicious, lemony dish perfect for any time of year that both looked pretty and cleaned up easily.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 40-50 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• Pam or other cooking spray
• 5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp. white wine (cooking wine is fine)
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp. dried thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 2 lemons, one thinly sliced and one zested and juiced
• 1 medium to large onion, thinly sliced (pull the slices apart into rings)
• 6-10 small to medium red potatoes, washed and cut into small pieces (approx. 4 pieces per small potato, 6 pieces per medium potato)
• 2 small heads broccoli, cut into florets (or 1 bunch asparagus, with stalks cut into 1-2 inch pieces)
• 2 chicken breasts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450*F. Spray a large (9x13), semi-deep oven-safe pan or skillet (I used a big Corningware baking dish) with cooking spray or lightly coat with olive oil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, white wine, butter, garlic, and thyme. Whisk in salt and pepper (at least 1 tsp. each). In the pan, lay out the lemon slices along the bottom so that none are overlapping (if you don't have enough to coat the whole bottom, don't worry—just make sure you lay them out in rows and don't overlap). Evenly lay the onion slices/rings over the lemon slices. Toss the potato pieces in the lemon juice-and-oil mixture, remove with a slotted spoon, and evenly distribute them over the layer of onion and lemon slices. Toss the broccoli in the lemon juice-and-oil mixture, remove with slotted spoon, and evenly place the pieces in with the potatoes (on top, next to...just make sure they're mixed in with the potatoes). Put the chicken breasts in the lemon juice-and-oil mixture, toss to coat, let sit for a few minutes, then use tongs or slotted spoon to remove and place over top of the veggie layers in the pan. Pour the remaining lemon juice-and-oil mixture evenly over the chicken and veggies. Sprinkle the lemon zest evenly over the dish, place in the oven (on the middle rack), and cook for 40-50 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Serve, being sure to use a spoon to ladle out the cooked lemon juice-and-oil mixture and pour over each serving for extra flavor.

This dish is really easy to make and it cleans up so easily because you're just using a roasting pan, a small bowl, and a handful of kitchen tools—while the dish is in the oven, you can put away ingredients and wash the dishes, and the cleanup after eating will be that much easier. The flavor is bright, fresh, and simple and the dish is pretty healthy too. This dish is great for any night of the week, but because it looks so beautiful and colorful coming out of the oven (and because prep. and clean up are so easy) it would work well on an evening when you're expecting a few guests at dinner.

Recipe: Sautéed Chicken and Pasta with a Leek and Onion Cream Sauce

So, I picked up leeks a little while ago with plans to make my Fettuccine and Sweet Italian Sausage in a Parmesan-Leek Sauce. When I left the house this morning, I set chicken out to thaw, having completely forgotten about the leeks (which have been languishing in the veggie drawer for over a week now), and planned to just wing it for dinner tonight. When I got home in the evening and starting getting prepped to make dinner, I found the leeks in the fridge and decided to just do a different take on that sauce from the original recipe, and the result was delicious. Leeks, onion, and garlic all have strong flavors, but blended together with heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, butter, and seasoning, they mellow out, creating a light, creamy sauce that pairs perfectly with chicken (and could work with a lot of other white meats).

iPhone 5 photo...not too shabby (I was too hungry and lazy to run upstairs and grab my camera)

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Food processor

Ingredients

• 2 leeks, cleaned and cut in half (remove all of the green top part and the roots/bottom; soak in warm water for a few minutes to help remove any grit and grim)
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Approx. 1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2-4 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2-4 tbsp. white wine (cooking grade is fine)
• 2-4 tbsp. dried oregano
• 2-4 tbsp. lemon pepper (if you don't have this, just add some extra pepper and dry lemon peel, or skip it altogether) 
• Approx. 1/4 cup heavy cream (add more as needed)
• 2 chicken breasts, whole or cut into strips
• 1 package (approx. 16 oz.) spaghetti or linguine (you could also try a small pasta, like penne or rotini—they could work very well with the sauce)
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, then add the leeks and cook for 2-4 minutes, until tender. Drain the leeks and put them in the food processor. Heat a little butter and olive oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat and add the onion. Cook until tender, then put it in the food processor. Add garlic, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, white wine, oregano, lemon pepper, salt, and pepper to the onion and leeks. Blend in the food processor until well-blended (the mixture likely won't be completely smooth, but this is fine—a little texture is good for this sauce). With the food processor running, slowly add the heavy cream. Sauce will be not too thin but not too thick. Pour it into a small pot and warm it over medium heat on the stove—add a little water or milk if you need to thin it out. In the same pan you used for the onion, add a little butter and olive oil, heat over medium-high heat, then add the chicken (season the chicken with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper). When partially cooked through, add the white wine (I just poured a splash in) and let it cook down. When the chicken is cooked through, it should be golden brown and no wine should be left in the pan. Reduce the heat when the chicken is cooked through to prevent overcooking. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, lightly salt it, then add the pasta and cook according to package instructions (about 5 minutes). Drain the pasta and return to the pot. Add the sauce (I reserved a few big spoonfuls to pour over the chicken) and stir/toss to coat. Serve the chicken atop the pasta and top with sauce, if desired. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

This dish is flavorful and creamy, but not overly rich. The strong flavors of the onion, leek, and garlic blend well together and the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese help even out the flavor. Cooking the chicken with butter and white wine helps brown it beautifully, while adding flavor and helping to keep it tender as it cooks. My parents only had one suggestions for this dish: add bacon. I agree—a little cooked, crumbled bacon sprinkled on the dish would heighten the saltiness and bring out the flavors in the sauce. But, even without that delicious pig meat, this dish is tasty.

Recipe: Pecan-Panko Chicken with Maple Mashed Potatoes and Maple Honey Mustard Sauce

Each time my parents head up to State College, they stop by Wegman's and come home with bags and bags of groceries, and one of those bags always has some interesting new fruit or veggie for me to cook with. They spent part of this past weekend up there and, as usual, brought me a unique food to try: name (pronounced "nah-may"), a root vegetable very much like a potato. I struggled to find any information about this tuber online, but eventually stumbled upon a recipe that involved baking and mashing it. I carefully followed the directions (400*F for 1 hour), but the result was a still-fairly-hard root that ended up getting popped in the microwave until it eventually softened up. I mashed it, I added the maple cream mixture, and we prepared ourselves for our first taste of this new-to-us tuber...and, it tasted a lot like a bland potato. So, for this recipe, I'm just going to substitute in potatoes for the name, because really, the name isn't worth it and making mashed potatoes is super easy.
This dish as a whole is absolutely delicious: nutty, crunchy pecan chicken pairs beautifully with the slight maple flavor in the buttery cream mixture that's blended into the potatoes and a sweet-and-savory maple honey mustard sauce pulls the whole dish together.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 2-4 chicken breasts, pounded out to 1/2 inch thickness 
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped (a food processor is best for this)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 to 1 cup flour

For the potatoes

• 4-8 Idaho or russet potatoes, peeled and cut into similarly sized chunks (you can use red/new potatoes or Yukon gold if desired)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp. pure/real maple syrup
• Salt and pepper

Sauce

• 2 tbsp. pure/real maple syrup
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400*F. Place the potato chunks in a large pot and add just enough water to cover them, then set aside. Pour the panko and finely chopped pecans into a large bowl, season with salt and pepper, and set aside. Put the egg and flour into separate bowls. Dredge the chicken breasts in the flour, then the egg, and then the pecan-panko mixture—be sure to completely coat the chicken in each thing (there should be no raw chicken visible through the coating). Set the chicken breasts on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked through, but tender. Once the chicken is in the oven, bring the pot of water and potatoes to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through and tender. While the chicken and potatoes are cooking, add all of the ingredients for the sauce, except the heavy cream, together in a small saucepan and bring briefly to a boil. Reduce the heat, gradually whisk in the heavy cream, and reduce the heat all the way to low. In a different sauce pan, melt the butter for the potatoes and set aside. When the potatoes are done, drain them in a colander, return them to the pot, and mash them. Add the melted butter, heavy cream, maple syrup, and salt and pepper (add more cream or butter, as needed—some people like really buttery potatoes, others like them less wet) and mash to combine the ingredients—don't over-mash them, because they will get gluey. When the chicken is done, plate each piece along side a big dollop of mashed potatoes and serve with the maple honey mustard sauce. For some added health, add roasted vegetables (I roasted broccoli with olive oil, salt, and pepper for 10 minutes in the oven, alongside the chicken).

This dish is the perfect meeting of savory and sweet. The pecans, heavy cream, and copious amounts of butter make this dish decadent and comforting all at once, while the flavors of the maple syrup and honey add sweetness to the dish. The sauce could easily work as a dip for chicken tenders, but for this dish, it's perfect as a sort of gravy for the potatoes and chicken breast.