Some weeks are better than others. Some weeks I'm Mrs. Organized...everything falls in to place as it should... I don't run late for work in the morning... I have my meals all planned out in advance... My clothes are cleaned and ironed and I'm... ready... ready for whatever life is going to throw at me.

Some weeks are harder. Nothing goes right... I can't get organized... dinners end up being thrown together last minute... I feel like I'm always late and I barely feel like trying to be better at it all.

You win some and you lose some, right? Well it certainly seems like I've been "losing" more than winning in my "trial" gourmet series these days. This week it's not the recipe though - it's my inability to follow instructions.

I think it's become very clear by now that I'm always looking for quick and easy recipes to add to my regular rotation of dinner ideas. I snipped this maple chicken recipe from the Montreal Gazette a few week ago (Thank you Julian Armstrong!) and as easy as it was to make, it took me a while to get organized enough to put it together... (i.e.) Have the right ingredients on hand, remember to take the chicken out of the freezer to thaw and start marinating the meat with enough time left to make dinner...

I finally made it this week and was pretty happy with the result. Not ecstatic. It reminded me of a maple glazed pork tenderloin recipe that I've been making for a few years now - but not as good. On a scale from one to ten I would give it a 7... maybe even a 6.5 (?). Although the flavour was very good, the chicken breast was a little too dry for my taste (maybe it would have been better if I'd marinated it for longer? maybe I just prefer the taste and texture of darker meat?) and the sauce was a little to thin and soupy. With that said, the girls gobbled this up without hesitation and so I'll probably make it again (marinating it longer and possibly with chicken thighs instead of breasts).

2. Peel all the garlic cloves, crush them by banging each with flat side of a knife and sprinkle all but two cloves over chicken.

3. Add 1/3 cup of malt vinegar and stir and turn to coat all sides with mixture.

4. Cover and let marinate an hour at room temperature or six hours in the refrigerator (bring to room temperature before baking).


**On a side note I *love* this marinating container by Tupperware (and no - I am not being paid to say that!). Once sealed shut you can flip it to make sure that your meat (or whatever it is you are marinating) is coated evenly. Pretty nifty.

5. Grease a roasting pan and transfer chicken to pan, shaking off marinade and reserving it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake uncovered, in oven preheated to 375 degrees for about 25 minutes (my chicken breasts were particularly fat and took an extra 10 minutes).


6. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes while making sauce.

7. In a small saucepan, simmer reserved marinade and the remaining half cup maple syrup, three tablespoons of vinegar and two cloves of garlic over low-medium heat for three minutes (up to 10 minutes if you're using a lighter maple syrup).



8. Slice each chicken breast in three pieces on the diagonal and place on 8 warmed serving plates (um... for real? who actually warms their serving plates?) Spoon warm sauce over chicken.


... and Enjoy!


A.

This week I’m sharing not one, but TWO recipes with you.

The first is for super easy “no hassle” Creamy Tarragon Chicken (House and Home claims that it is one of their readers’ faves).

The second is a “…need to get started more than an hour before you want to eat…” recipe for Baked French Potatoes from my trusty copy of Jamie’s Food Revolution.

I have to start by saying that I am not the type of woman/wife/mom who picks meals that take a lot of time and several steps to prepare. Especially on week nights. Although I’m still off work (for another 2 weeks…eek.) and technically have more time for household tasks, I think that evenings are busy enough to begin with – without adding a complicated (or simply time consuming) supper prep. In short, I like to keep things simple and I like my food to come together quickly.

With that said… the chicken recipe definitely meets my weeknight dinner prep criteria – it’s simple, it’s quick, it’s yummy AND the chicken is cooking in the oven just long enough to steam some veggies and prepare some simple potatoes or rice. If you're going for "quick", I do NOT recommend the baked French potatoes that I’m about to share with you. These potatoes, while simple enough to put together (and yummy for sure), ended up taking more than 90 minutes to make. I don’t care how you want to turn that one, 90 minutes or more is simply not quick enough for a weeknight meal. Not now and definitely not when I’m working until 4:30 p.m. and want to have supper on the table by 5:30 p.m. (!) I’ll just have to save the potatoes for weekend meals. And I will.

They were that good.

If you decide to make both recipes, you’ll see that you have to start with the potatoes. A good 90 minutes (or more) before you want to be sitting down to eat.

BAKED FRENCH POTATOES (serves 4-6)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put 3 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. Meanwhile: peel and finely slice 1 ¾ lbs of potatoes, 1 lb of medium onions and 3 cloves of garlic. (*I recommend starting with the onions and garlic so that you can do the next step while you’re working on the potatoes) Pick the leaves from small handful of fresh Italian parsley and finely chop.
4. Pour a couple of lugs of olive oil into a large hot pan. Add onions, garlic and parsley. Slowly fry for 10 minutes or until the onions are soft and lightly golden. Add pinch of salt and pepper.
5. In large baking dish place a layer of potatoes, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and a layer of onion mixture. Repeat until you’ve used everything up, but try to finish with a layer of potatoes.
6. Pour in hot broth to just cover the top of potatoes, break up 2 pats of butter and dot over top.
7. Rub some aluminum foil with olive oil; place it, oil-side down, over the dish, and seal tight.
8. Place in preheated oven for 45 minutes, remove the foil, push the potatoes down and return to the oven for 20 – 40 (more like 40 in my experience) minutes until golden and crisp.

…Just after you remove the aluminum foil and put the potatoes back in, it’ll be time to start your chicken (about 30 minutes before you want to eat supper)

CREAMY TARRAGON CHICKEN (serves 4-6)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (if you haven’t already got it going for the potatoes)
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, wide skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Pat down 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken supremes (*I used 8 drumsticks… because they were on sale this week and cost me only $2.50) with paper towel; season with salt and pepper.
4. Add chicken to skillet skin-side-down and cook 3-5 minutes, or until deep golden. Flip and cook another 2 minutes.
5. Transfer chicken to large baking pan and bake 20-25 minutes (or until cooked through).
6. Meanwhile: to make tarragon sauce: slice 3 large shallots and mince 1 small clove of garlic. Add them to the skillet and reduce heat to medium, cook for 4 mintues or until shallots have softened.
7. Add ½ cup dry white wine and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half.
8. Add 1 cup chicken broth, bring to boil and cook 3 minutes.
9. Strain, reserving liquids and discarding solids. Return liquids to skillet or small pot, bring to boil and whisk in ½ cup 35% cream and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard.
10. In a small bowl, mash 1 tablespoon butter or margarine with 1 tablespoon of flour. Add ¼ cup of hot chicken broth mixture and stir until combined (it will be very thick).
11. Add mixture to hot chicken broth and stir until combined.
12. Add 1 tablespoon freshly chopped tarragon and season with salt and pepper.
13. Spoon sauce over chicken to serve.

*Just so you know... the sauce is also EXCELLENT over the potatoes and steamed veggies, but if you’re counting calories, don’t do it!

And there you go... another 2 "trial" gourmet recipes that I think are worth trying... and might just become a part of your regular meal rotation!

Enjoy!

A.