Tonight's Dinner: Tuscan Lemon Chicken...

Yesterday I was playing around in my email and came upon an email from King Arthur Flour. I always check the emails out because, altho' I'm not interested in buying anything at the moment, I always check at the bottom of the email for the daily recipe. This one sent me through to the blog and there was a whole thing on making latkes in the oven. Well, I was interested in that.

I printed it out and decided to make it on the first night of Chanukah (tonight!).

I also made Ina Garten's Tuscan Lemon Chicken from her newest book - Back to Basics. Boy the hardest part was flattening the darned chicken. Easier than it looks on tv.

The latkes were very easy to put together, The only problem I had was that one of the 3 baking sheets I used (recipe calls for 2 but I needed more) made them too dark. They overcooked so I lost 4 latkes to them being burned on one side.

Otherwise they came out crisp and thin, just the way we like. I also loved that they weren't overly greasy either. We ate them as a separate meal - an appetizer.

The chicken was perfect. I knew it was perfect because the chicken came apart in quarters without cutting. It just fell apart.

Just delicious...

* Exported from MasterCook *

Oven Baked Potato Latkes

Recipe By     : adapted from King Arthur Flour website
Serving Size : 4    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Holiday                          Potatoes
                Side Dishes

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
   1 1/2 lb            baking potatoes -- 3 medium
   1      medium        onion
   1      lg            egg
   1 1/2 ts            salt
   2      tb            matzo meal
                        vegetable oil -- * see note

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets (cookie sheets with rims).

Put onion and egg in food processor and puree the onion. Peel potatoes and then cut into pieces that fit the feed tube of the food processor. Put the shredding disk in and then shred the potatoes.

Add the matzo meal and a bit of salt and pepper (1 tsp or a bit more of salt, half that of pepper).

Whiz for a moment.

Pour a thin layer of vegetable oil into each baking pan. It should be deep enough that when you tilt the pan, you can see the oil move.

Drop the batter onto the sheet pans by 1/4 or 1/3 cupfuls (I use an ice cream scoop). Space them far enough apart so that you can fit a spatula between them to flip them.

Bake the latkes for 20-25 minutes**, or until the bottoms are golden brown. Flip over and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with sour cream or apple sauce, or both.

They should be really thin and crisp! Mmm...enjoy!

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NOTES : Risa's notes:

* King Arthur recipe asks that you not use canola oil as it gives an off taste to the latkes. I use vegetable oil or corn oil.
** Recipe calls for cooking 20-25 minutes but I found them difficult to flip as they were stuck to the pan. So, I would bake for a few minutes less and then flip them.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Ina's Tuscan Lemon Chicken

Recipe By     : adapted from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten
Serving Size : 3    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dishes                      Poultry

Amount Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
   1      3 lb          chicken -- flattened
                        kosher salt
     1/3 cup           good olive oil
   2      ts            lemon zest -- 2 lemons
     1/3 cup           lemon juice -- freshly squeezed
   1      tb            garlic -- minced
   1      tb            rosemary leaves -- minced
                        freshly ground black pepper
   1                    lemon -- halved

Sprinkle chicken with 1 tsp salt on each side.

Combine oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and 1 tsp pepper in a glass dish (just large enough to hold the flattened chicken). Add the chicken, and turn to coat. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat a cast iron pan over MED-HIGH heat. Add some oil and when it starts to smoke, put chicken in. Cook on both sides, brown well. Should be 5-8 minutes per side, and then turn the chicken over. Put pan with chicken in oven and roast for 1/2 hour-45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit, tented with tin foil, for 5-10 minutes to let it rest. Return cast iron pan to stovetop, put over MED heat, and grill the cut sides of the lemons for 5 minutes or so.

Break apart into quarters, sprinkle with salt and serve with grilled lemon halves.

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NOTES : Risa's notes:

To flatten the chicken, remove the back bone in the center. Then with your hands, press down, Cut around and remove the breastbone with a boning knife.

If the chicken is totally cooked, it will fall apart easily when you remove it from the pan.

If you wish to use the leftover marinade as a sauce, put it in a small saucepan and simmer it for 5 minutes over LOW heat.

The original recipe calls for grilling the chicken - Spread 1/4 of the coals across the other side of the grill, place the chicken on the cooler side, skin side up, and weight it down with a heavy dish. Cook for 12-15 minutes, until the underside is golden brown, turn over and weight it again. Cook for another 12-15 minutes. Place the lemon halves on the cool side of the grill in the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove chicken to a plate and tent with tin foil. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Cut into quarters, sprinkle with salt and serve with grilled lemon halves.