Roasted Chicken with Lemon, Caper & Parsley Sauce

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Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Caper Sauce

Ever since we entered September, all I’ve wanted to do is lie in bed, wrapped up in a quilt with the breeze blowing through my open window, and read.  Well, that and gorge on comfort foods (ahem, see that time I baked and ate way, way too many chocolate cookies).

My latest addition to my fall comfort food repertoire was these roasted chicken thighs.  I baked the chicken with sliced red potatoes and made a 2-minute pan sauce with capers, lemon, parsley, and a few dots of butter.  It ended up being exactly what I was looking for–minimal effort with big comfort food results and just the sort of thing I’d happily eat any night of the week.

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Asparagus & Gruyère Croque Madame

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Croque Madame with Asparagus
Here in Minnesota, it feels like we’ve endured more than our fair share of rain this spring.  I’ve gone weeks wearing nothing but ugly, green rain boots.  I’ve never wiped up so many muddy paw prints, nor have I’ve ever wanted to spend more time napping.

It’s not all bad though.  The grass is vivid, the trees have started to bud, and I feel completely justified in eating my favorite comfort foods–bowls of spaghetti showered with Parmesan, brothy bowls of soup with crusty bread, and grilled cheese sandwiches.  

My latest (and arguably greatest) grilled cheese concoction was this open-faced asparagus croque madame sandwich.  A croque madame, if you’re unfamiliar, is a croque monsieur topped with an egg and a croque monsieur is a delicious French sandwich made with béchamel-smeared bread, a slice of ham, and cheese.  You pop it under the broiler and let the cheese melt and the edges get toasty-crunchy.  It’s pretty wonderful whenever, but as lunch on a rainy afternoon, it’s absolute perfection.

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Polenta with Leeks, Endive, Pancetta & Poached Eggs

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Polenta with Leeks & Poached EggI’ve always been a big fan of polenta, but with how miserably cold it’s been this winter, I’m turning into a complete fiend.  I think I could eat polenta morning, noon, and night until the day comes (probably sometime in late May) when I can step out my front door without seeing my breath and wearing fewer than 10 layers of clothing.

My latest go-around was a bowl of very creamy polenta topped with sautéed leeks and endive, crispy pancetta, and a runny poached egg.  It makes an excellent stick-to-your-ribs sort of breakfast, a great just-came-in-from-shoveling lunch, or an excellent I’m-going-to-find-comfort-in-this-warm-bowl-of-polenta-while-I-sit-on-the-couch-wrapped-in-an-afgan-bemoaning-the-fact-that-I-live-this-freaking-tundra dinner.

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Polenta Bake with Italian Sausage & Lacinato Kale

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Polenta Bake with Italian Sausage & Lacinato KaleThis dinner certainly isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but boy, is it ever good on a cold winter night.  Allow me to explain what it is, since it really just looks like a big yellow blob.

It’s an Italian take on a shepard’s pie.  I made a saute of spicy sausage, kale, and tomatoes, topped it with a layer of polenta and a handful of grated cheese, and tossed it in the oven.  The cheese bubbled and melted, the polenta got crispy-crunchy around the edges.  It’s the kind of comfort food that’ll warm your heart, your soul, your stomach, and leave you barely even caring that you seem to be caught in the epicenter of that danged polar vortex. [Read more…]

Roasted Chicken with Apple Cider Pan Sauce

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Roasted Chicken & New Potatoes with Apple Cider Pan SauceRoast chicken with potatoes ranks pretty high on my list of things I like to cook, as I bet it does with most home cooks.  It’s simple, it’s easy, and yields heart-warmingly delicious results, every time.  Who wouldn’t love that?

This time around I took a very minimalist approach with the chicken, just rubbing the skin with salt and pepper and stuffing a few rosemary sprigs and sage leaves in the cavity.  I roasted it in my (beloved) cast-iron pan over new potatoes and wedges of onion and made a quick apple cider pan gravy to serve alongside.  The result?  Total comfort food bliss and a beautiful dinner that tasted like I went to a lot more trouble than I actually did.

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