Greek-Style Lemony Chicken and Potatoes

Tonight's dinner: tender chicken leg quarters marinated in a Greek-inspired mix of yogurt, lemon juice, garlic and herbs. This was roasted on top of potatoes and onions drizzled in olive oil. As you can see from the photo, it's way too much food for just the two of us, but I made enough for leftovers. I'm planning on topping a green salad with some of this roasted chicken for a nice lunch tomorrow; that is, unless my boyfriend beats me to it and eats it for breakfast!

We just got back from 2 weeks in the States, and I feel so heavy. We ate so much greasy food, especially during the last half of the trip, when we were at a conference. Being at my parent's home (the first week) we could eat reasonably, but during that conference it was difficult. So basically we consumed a large number of french fries and heavy sandwiches.

After that, we've both been craving lighter and more wholesome food. I've been eating almost nothing but green salad for the past few days, just because it's so good after all that grease! But today it was time for something substantial again, yet still nutritious and not too heavy. We had just bought some chicken leg quarters yesterday, so I decided to make this. Greek or Greek-inspired dishes are always so tasty, in my opinion!

Ingredients:
3 chicken leg quarters (or more if you like)
1 T olive oil

Marinade:
1 big clove of garlic for each quarter + 1 extra
1/4 c yogurt (plain)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
About 1-2 T dried oregano (to taste, can use fresh of course)
1 sprig mint, chopped
Generous sprinkling coarsely ground black pepper
Salt
1 t olive oil

4 medium potatoes
1 large white onion
1 T olive oil
Salt

Method:
Can be done ahead of time: Crush and chop the garlic, and mix all ingredients for marinade in a shallow bowl. Make sure the chicken is clean and dry; salt it a bit. Place the chicken in the dish, coating well with marinade. Separate the skin from the meat to spoon some marinade inside each piece. Let the chicken sit in the remaining marinade, turning occasionally. I marinated for an hour, but you could even do it overnight. Just make sure you refrigerate the chicken.


Chicken in marinade; potatoes and onions in the pan, ready to cook.

When you're ready to cook: Wash (peel if desired) and cube the potatoes. Cut the onion into sort of thick chips or semi-rings. Place potatoes and onions in a roasting pan. Mix well with some salt and 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade, laying the pieces on top of the potatoes, skin side down. You can spoon any remaining marinade over the chicken. Place in a 190 degree C (375 degree F) oven for about 30 minutes. After about 30 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and turn the chicken pieces over. The skin side should be facing up now. Drizzle the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil over the skin of the chicken. Bake for about 40 minutes more, or until chicken is done and skin is crisp and golden brown.

Notes and Serving Suggestion: It was a really nice, mild tasting meal. Filling but not greasy, the sort of thing you feel good after eating. I really like lemon flavor on the potatoes, so next time I may squeeze a little extra lemon juice over them. We ate this with a simple Greek salad. The sauce from the chicken was very tasty soaked up with bread.

Really fast/easy dinner for 4

So tonight we had 2 friends over (another couple) for dinner ... I had like 30 minutes notice to make something, with no help (my bf had to go get them from the airport). But it turned out pretty well, thank god for pasta. :-)

And this tasty herb butter I had made in advance also helped. A few weeks ago when I was chopping a bunch of herbs to season some fish, I chopped way too much. So I mixed them with softened butter and diced garlic, then spread the butter into a thin stick on some parchment paper and froze it.

Today I was able to make a tasty main course by thawing some chicken legs, seasoning with salt and pepper, then putting a generous piece of the butter under the skin of each leg. I put the legs in a glass baking dish, dumped some frozen wild mushrooms on them, added a little white wine and just baked them for an hour.

We also had spaghetti noodles, a simple tomato-feta-red onion salad, krakowska sausage (from Poland, traded for some Ukrainian kvass), Gruyere cheese, and pickles. Dessert was chasselas and muscat grapes, store bought butter cookies, and store bought Gateau St. Amour. With tea, of course.

I really adore the grapes in this area. The chasselas are commonly used for making wine. They're small, perfectly round, and range in color from bright, pale green to golden brown. They're transparent, which is so cool! The muscat grapes are heavenly. They remind me of Concord grapes, but they're better. I'm not even sure how to describe them, they have a strong, distinct taste that I love. This variety is dark purple. They both have seeds, which I don't mind. Crunchy!

CbG: Whole Chickens

Have I mentioned before that my boyfriend can cook? I have? Well, I'll say it again: he knows his way around a kitchen, and there are some things he does better than I do. Not saying that I should be inherently better at it or anything, but I do get a LOT more practice.

Anyway, we are now adding "roasted chicken" to the list of things that BF is responsible for cooking. We've been buying a whole chicken for the past couple of weekends, and I've been using them to make a simple but delicious chicken broth. But this weekend, he wanted to take charge of the bird's lower half, while I made the broth with the breast as usual. The result was soooo good!

My Boyfriend's Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

Lower portion of a chicken (the back, thighs and legs), reserve the upper (breast, wings) for soup
About 1/4 c mayonnaise
1 t garlic salt
1 t crushed black peppercorns
1 T dried parsley, or 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sprinkle the seasonings all over the chicken, separating the skin from the flesh. Make sure that you get both the skin and the flesh. Now, spread the mayo all over, especially between skin and flesh. Roast, loosely covered with foil, until juices run clear.

Serving Suggestion and Notes: This was so good. When it finished, we had already eaten something else for dinner (this was intended to be for the next day). It smelled so great when it came out of the oven, that I told myself, "I'll just take a taste." A taste turned into half a chicken!

Simple Chicken Broth

Ingredients:

1 bunch of fresh dill
1 handful of fresh parsley
4 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
3 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
1 medium carrot
1/4 t celery salt
Upper portion of 1 chicken
Water to cover
Salt to taste

Method:

Peel and halve the carrot. Halve the onion and garlic cloves. Wash the fresh herbs, and I like to use a long sprig of dill to tie them into a bunch, to keep them all in one place. Sprinkle the celery salt over the chicken. Place all the ingredients in a large pot, cover with water. Allow it to come to a boil, and simmer for 2 hours, skimming any foamy stuff off the surface. Remove chicken and vegetables. Salt to taste.

Serving Suggestion and Notes: My favorite way to eat homemade chicken broth is simple. Place chopped fresh dill, parsley and onion in a serving bowl, and add steaming hot broth. Cooked rice and some of the chopped chicken is another nice addition.