Life of Wry

I chose a recipe for tonight based on ingredients I had on hand, and wow was it good! It was my first Christopher Kimball recipe, which I debuted in 2020 — the year of my return to the kitchen. (Pandemic? Nothing else to do? If not now, when?)

I think he called it “Roasted Chicken with Tomatoes and Herbs” or somesuch. Chris Kimball recipes are known for their intense flavor, and this was no exception.

You start by putting into an oven-proof pan: red onions, tomato, garlic, olive oil, herbs (he calls for fresh oregano and rosemary, both of which I have, but it was raining and I didn’t want to get wet/muddy, so I used a big handful of dry Italian spice blend), salt and pepper. Toss that all together, then add chicken broth and wine and push the whole concoction to the perimeter. Then you salt and pepper some chicken (I used b/s thighs) and add them to the center of the pan, stick it in the oven and bake for 40 minutes at 450. At the end of the roasting part, there’s supposed to be a lot of liquid in the pot that you are then to reduce, but in the three times I’ve made this dish, there has been no liquid at the end of the roasting part, not sure why. Still, I put the pan on the stove as directed–removing the chicken first–added some lemon juice and more olive oil and warmed and whisked all that together. This is one intense sauce! You add the chicken back and serve (over rice in our case). Hoo boy, it’s good. And easy to make.

A couple shots.

This is the onion, tomato, garlic, s/p, herbs and oil:

And this is the finished product over brown basmati, with broccolini, and some Sonoma-Cutrer chardonnay (since it was the only wine I had and needed to be opened and used as cooking wine).

Yes, ma’am! Won’t wait three years to make this again.