Weekenders

This weekend, we hosted the newest installment of Froula, seen here in the "barrel room" at the winery closest to our house.

They came with us to our Catechism class, followed by Mass, and then we returned home for a lazy Sunday afternoon, capped off with a late lunch, which was prepared thusly:

While Matt and Justin dusted off the backgammon board and set up shop in the living room, Rose and I prepped the kitchen for lunch-making, she by washing the breakfast dishes and I by preparing the chicken. (Free-range organic, of course!)

Heat the oven to 400. Remove the giblet-things from the 3-4 lb chicken, and rinse it in cold water, patting dry with a clean rag. (We buy plain white bar-towels in bulk, to save paper-towel waste.) Rub all over with olive oil and salt, and place in a glass dish in the oven. Mix one 1 lb bag of frozen sliced peaches (if fresh are not available, which they are not right now) with six halved shallots, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, six sprigs of fresh thyme, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. If the peaches are fresh, use four, halved, and add the mixture to the dish immediately. If not, add this mixture to the chicken about a half hour into the roasting time. Total roasting time is about one hour, ten minutes, or until thermometer in the thigh registers 180.

Forty minutes into the roasting time, I washed, peeled, cut and boiled four Japanese sweet potatoes*. While they boiled, I trimmed 1/3 lb of green beans and set them aside. Then, I diced two shallots and one clove of garlic, browning them in a tablespoon of butter. Add the green beans, and, while they sizzle, squeeze the juice of one lime over all. When the beans got tender (about five minutes) I placed them in a covered dish on the table. The yams were ready, and I added 1/4 cup heavy cream (forgot to buy milk, oops!) 1 tbs butter, and mashed them up. By this time, the chicken was done and had been resting for ten minutes, so we sat down to eat!

The potatoes were VERY dry: I wish I had remembered to buy milk; then I could have put more in and they would have been creamier. The chicken was perfect: tender, juicy, the peaches added sweetness, and the balsamic vinegar kept the sweetness from being too cloying. The lime in the beans added a bit of zing to our plates.

This meal is definitely one that we will be serving again!!

*I'd planned on sweet potatoes for this meal. At the store, there were these "Japanese Yams" which I thought would be fun. They turned out to be a pale yellow color, and a little stringier than I liked, but the taste was pleasing.