A Hit and a Miss! Roast Chicken with Shallots and Roasted Artichokes

Do you ever see a recipe and think how awesome and classy it looks, and the description is even better? Me too. Roasted artichokes are that recipe for me…. so I tried making them...

NOT SO MUCH. I tried, and I failed miserably.  

Figures I try this with the 2 for $1 artichokes. That might be my problemo.  As far as I could tell, I followed the recipe from Iowa Girl Eats and hers looked amazing!!!  I failed miserably. But, my cheerleader hubs told me to try them again soon. Which I will (shout out to Iowa Girl, those looked killer, mine were beautiful, not tasty). Please try her recipe and win, and tell me what you used, I am determined to master this eventually!

Gorgessity…..Grossesity?

Alas, where there is a fail, there is a victory!  Cue in David Lebovitz's Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots. HELLLLLLOOOOOOO beautiful! This was the jackpot of all recipe finds. 

Calls for minced shallots - chopped as finely as I could!  

I have a new local store, Lucky's, that had their bone in chicken breast on sale for 98 cents a pound. 98 CENTS! The butcher  gladly gave me 4 breasts, and I saw they were $1.89 for all 4. So, naturally, I annoyed the hell out of him and asked for 4 more.  Beauties! Skin on is the way to go. For you skinnies, once again, eat the freakin skin and work out a bit more tomorrow. Its worth it.

Here's the link to the recipe:

David Lebovitz's Recipe below. 

PS. His website and recipes are amazing. Follow for updates! www.davidlebovitz.com

Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots
Serves 4 to 6

Adapted from French Farmhouse Cookbook (Workman) by Susan Herrmann Loomis

I use a whole chicken cut into eight pieces; two legs, two thighs, and I cut each breast piece in half, crosswise, keeping the wings attached. You could also just use eight of your favorite chicken pieces.

I used 3 large bone in breasts for 2 people and 1 large shallot. I used about 3/4 the recipe but just eyeball it to coat your chicken accordingly. 

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 4 large shallots, peeled and minced
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• One whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• one generous handful of coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC).

2. In a large baking dish, one which will hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer, mix the olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, shallots, and some salt and pepper.

3. Toss the chicken in the mixture, so they’re completely coated with the shallots. Turn the chicken pieces so they are all skin side up.

4. Roast the chicken for about twenty minutes, until it starts to brown on top. Turn the pieces of chicken over. Scrape any juices and shallots over the chicken that may be clinging to the pan, and bake for another twenty minutes, or until the pieces of chicken are cooked through and the shallots are well-caramelized.

5. Remove from oven and toss in the chopped parsley, then serve

The bottom of the pan should be covered for the most part with your sauce. Toss your chicken in.

Roast for 20 then flip for 20. It is perfection!

It was truly delicious and something we will make again in the near future. Try it! So easy, even I can screw one thing up and end up with a majorly delightful entree! 

Super Easy Southwest Chicken Salad

Adapted from the salad bar "signature salad" at work. Seriously, if you don't love a good salad bar, pssshhh. C'mon!!! You get to create your own thing!

The salad at work is my usual go-to. I love the really awesome chick that always makes me my special salad who knows I say "I want this already designed salad, but not this, and add this" and doesn't eye roll at me.  The standard salad at work goes a little something like this:

Combo of salad (you know the kind you get bagged at grocery)
Black Beans
Red Onion
Cherry Tomatoes
Corn
Shredded Cheddar
Tortilla Strips
Chipotle Lime Dressing
Chicken Strips

Sorry, place-of-work, that combo sounds great to most, but didn't work for this girl.

I always say - no red onion (onion breath at work is an afternoon ladykiller), no tomato, add red pepper. Switch for ranch dressing. I didn't say this was a healthy salad. Oy Vey.

The chicken is always meh at work, so I decided to change it up and get really fancy with it: season with Taco seasoning. Revolutionary, huh? 2 chicken breasts (for the 2 of us) at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and let them sit for about 5-10 so it doesn't completely wilt your salad.

I always tell my friend at work to 86 the tomatoes but I think I just have a thing - I don't like cherry tomatoes in a salad - sorry!! I do like chopped tomatoes…. Cherry Tomato,  Chopped Tomato? (Toe-may-toe, Toe-mah-toe?)

Anyway, I drained black beans and rinsed them because your salad would be a weird gray color and taste only of black beans and be soggy if you didn't... and drained a can of sweet whole kernel corn and put as much as I wanted of both on top of my salad mix! Yes, my salad mix. It's a big bag of crisp good stuff that I thought was fresh and had the most distant expiration date.. Just do what you want when you make your stuff! I bet this salad would be great with baby spinach, but it's a little too much for my boo. Plus, I always add way too much cheese for my own good that would make others be grossed out. This time I added a mexican cheese mix.

For the dressing I went a bit crazy. I had left over taco seasoning….and OMG added it to my bottled ranch dressing. It was awesome.

So I made my fave salad! What do you like on yours? I always love listening to the combos people request on theirs in line at work and they disgust me, but it makes them happy! I always wonder if the person behind me thinks I have horrible taste in salad toppings!

Plus, I am brainwashing my husband into thinking this salad is healthy….it is, sorta. ;-)

Invite Your Friends Over

Read the post. Invite your friends over. Cook what you love to cook. If they are your friends, they won't care if it's not great. But if you want to impress your friends and have great food….Cook this (Pioneer Woman). Pics show the fun.

Brussels sprouts are delish to me. Check with your buds if they like them. Roast with a squeeze of lemon, slice the lemon and throw it in there, s&p, and some bacon for 45 min at 345 on a sheet pan covered in aluminum foil if they say YES. Keep these friends. Brussels sprouts are the shiz.

Seriously, its fun to have friends over. Even better to have a dinner party! 

Trust me. If you can read, you can follow a recipe. Just don't have too much wine before starting the food or it'll be a mess. 

Photo credits to Miranda at www.thechicstreet.com or follow on Instagram @thechicstreet and my sweet friend - follow her too on Instagram Allison @allisonmyers