what came first...the chicken or the potato

Chicken and potatoes. What can you say ? Probably the most go to dinner of all time. I would venture to say that some combination of the two hits dinner tables on average twice a week. That's either a lot of repeats or a ton of experimentation in the kitchen...and while I would hope the latter, due to the constrains of contemporary society, I'm willing to bet it's the former. Well here's my bid into spicing things up a bit...come to think of it...we're sweetening it up as well. Honey glazed chicken (the sweet) and spicy crunchy potatoes (the heat). Both are exceptionally tasty and will leave you pondering which to finish first, the sweet or the heat. Let the battle begin.

Honey Chicken

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp chopped rosemary

2 tbsp butter cut into small pieces

2 cloves of garlic minced

4 whole chicken breast (bone in skin on pref)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a small saucepan set over medium heat, simmer white wine and honey until liquid has reduced by a third. Add rosemary and pepper. Remove glaze from heat and set aside for basting.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

In a large sauté pan, set over medium high heat, sear chicken breast, skin side down. Cook chicken breasts for 5-6 minutes, or until the fat has rendered, and the skin is golden and crispy. Remove from heat and let cool 2 minutes. Flip chicken.

Sprinkle butter and garlic over chicken and place in preheated oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (internal temp of 165), basting with prepared glaze halfway through. Remove from oven, baste with glaze once more and allow to rest for 5-7 minutes.

Spicy Crunchy Potatoes

4 Idaho potatoes

1/2 C extra-virgin olive oil

2 medium onions sliced

3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Pierce the skin of the potatoes with a fork (4-5 stabs) and place on a baking sheet in the oven for about an hour, until potatoes are fork tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool. When potatoes cool, cut into large chunks.

Bring oven back up to 425. Pour olive oil into a stove top safe roasting dish (you could also use an oven safe skillet...a big one) and scatter the onions to cover the bottom of the pan. Layer the chunks of potato over the onions and bake, uncovered, on middle rack for 15 min. Turn the contents every 5 minutes or so.

Leaving the oven on, remove the pan from the oven and place over high heat on the stove top. Cook for approximately 2 minutes to caramelize the potatoes and onions, constantly tossing the mixture.

Return to the oven and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes while periodically tossing the contents with a spoon and scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Remove from the oven (you can turn it off now as your kitchen will be hotter than hell) and place over medium-high heat on the stove top. Add the garlic, butter, pepper flakes rosemary, and thyme. Stir and season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes to meld the flavors, remove from heat, top and toss with parsley and serve immediately.

The potato recipe, again, basically comes from the URBAN ITALIAN cookbook...it's outstanding. The potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender and fluffy on the inside, with an herbaceous flavor with just a little kick in the taste buds to keep you interested. A perfect compliment to the sweet honey glazed chicken with crispy skin and moist tender meat equally herbaceous. Perfect compliments, or equally balanced rivals, this dish will keep you bouncing back and forth from potato to protein until the final two bites are left. Then the decision is yours...are you sweet...or are you heat ?

Mangia et statti zitto...

cheers...

dunkin