A mother-daughter conversation on food and cooking (mostly)

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Sheet Pan Supper

I keep reading about this idea in magazines--lining a sheet pan with parchment paper and roasting the whole dinner in that pan.  My best variant is chicken thighs, sweet potatoes, and (I confess, in a separate pan) baked tomatoes.  This feels really good in winter because at the same time we're craving slow, warm food, the oven is heating up the house.  No one would dream of making this in summer in South Carolina!

I used four bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.  (Hey, that's a flavor revelation!  I have been using boneless skinless ones for quite a while).  I shook them in flour, chile powder, thyme, salt, and pepper and laid them on the sheet pan.  I scrubbed and pricked four small sweet potatoes and added them in a symmetrical pattern.  I baked them at 375 degrees for a little more than an hour.

In the same oven I made Tomatoes Provencale.

So--easy to clean up. delicious flavor, and hardly any prep time.  Not really a new idea, but it's good to be reminded to make simple things once in a while.


Monday, February 15, 2016

Another Chutney

I had unripe plums and an Indian dinner planned, so it seemed logical to make plum chutney!  I freely based my recipe on this excellent one made in a pressure cooker--an added bonus for me because I love my Cuisinart pressure cooker and am happy to expand its use beyond meat and beans.

The chutney was delicious, though a little sour--but I find most chutneys darken and improve in flavor after sitting around for a few weeks.  You'll see both Hatch green chiles and fresh jalapenos in this photo.