I joined a CSA this winter, and my favorite part of it, so far, was an organic, free range chicken. The moment I saw it, I knew I wanted to do something special with it.

But sometimes the best recipes are the simplest, and this was one of those times. This chicken would make an excellent weeknight dinner, and roasting is by far the easiest preparation imaginable.  Since it also adds a ton of flavor, you really can’t do much better.

So if you want something healthy and easy after a season of elaborate holiday cooking, try this. And happy new year, everyone!  I, for one, am ringing in 2009 by giving my kitchen a rest for a day or two!

Garlic Roasted Chicken

INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken, cut into breasts and legs, skin removed
6 large garlic cloves
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Rub each chicken breast and leg with olive oil, salt and pepper. Finely chop the garlic cloves and cover the chicken with them.

Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until chicken reaches internal temperature of 165 degrees. Serve.

Serves 4-6.

→ 15 CommentsTags: food · main dishes

I will say, when I see all the great summer fruits that are in season lately, not nearly enough of them have made it onto this blog.  Because when I buy cherries or berries or peaches or plums, not surprisingly, I *eat* them.  I eat them plain.  I don’t bake with them or cook with them or turn them into some other dish.  I just (gasp!) eat them.

But when I saw yellow watermelon for the first time this summer, I knew I had to show it off.  Which means it had to become part of an actual recipe, and not just cut up into yummy slices.  But I had this little voice in my head whispering, “sorbet.”

Because, when you think about it, watermelon sorbet makes perfect sense.  Watermelon is already so full of water that it barely even needs to be diluted, and what goes great with watermelon?  Sweet glazes and syrups.  Puree those up and stick them in your ice cream maker, and you’ve got an excellent sorbet recipe just waiting to be written down.

If you can’t find yellow watermelon, you could definitely use regular pink watermelon in place of the yellow, and the color would still be great.

Yellow Watermelon Sorbet

INGREDIENTS:
A 2.5- or 3-pound seedless yellow watermelon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice (I used lemon)

DIRECTIONS:
Cut all the flesh of the watermelon off of the rind and place the pieces in your food processor.  Add sugar, honey and juice and puree until smooth.  Place the puree in your ice cream maker and churn according to its instructions, about 20 minutes.  Freeze until the sorbet has the consistency you want, and serve.

→ 15 CommentsTags: desserts · food

This post has been in my “drafts” folder for almost a week, but I didn’t want to post it because I felt like I owed you guys an at least somewhat sweet recipe, since my last dessert was in March!  But, with that out of my system, I am equally excited about this seared scallop salad.

And for you to fully appreciate this salad, I have to tell you a very cute story.  It involves the farmer’s market, and an adorably hungry dog.  Now, the fish stand at our farmer’s market is so popular that if you show up anytime after about 11 am, the only things left are scallops, mussels and cod.  All of which I like!  But it sometimes hurts to see their whiteboard of delicious fish options, 90% erased by the time I make my way down to Union Square.

But, as I was waiting on line one Saturday, suddenly this dog in front of me got up on its back paws and pressed his little nose up to the front of the fish case. As the poor owner was trying to get the (rather large) dog to pry its face away from the plastic divider, the man behind the counter plucked a scallop out of his bowl, and tossed it to the dog, who greedily chomped it down.  Too cute!  And, I thought to myself, “if that dog can get that excited about scallops, then I can find something really lovely to do with them (that does not involve eating them raw in one bite).”

I decided to try some of the artisan greens that were available, and they were very different from what I expected!  Corn shoots, which are the long, straight, very light greens in the salad, were intensely flavorful and just burst in your mouth — different from any lettuce I’ve ever eaten.  The other greens in the salad are white pea greens, pea shoots, and buckwheat greens, and there are some sunchokes thrown in because you know how much I love them.

In other news, I am very excited to announce that two blogs that I like a lot have given me awards (although I feel like I don’t deserve them after steering two people astray with the muffin/large loaf debacle)! Elle and Sarah have given me, respectively, the “E for Excellent” and “Blogging with a Purpose” blogging awards! Which means that I get to pass them on — and honestly, there are too many wonderful food and cooking blogs out there to choose from, and new ones popping up all the time! But here are a few of the blogs whose entries I am always excited to see:

Seared Scallop Salad

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound large scallops
2 tbsp olive oil
2 sunchokes, peeled and chopped into matchstick slices
1 pound mixed artisan greens (I used corn shoots, pea shoots, white pea greens, and buckwheat greens)
2 tsp mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Salt and pepper the scallops and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil until nearly smoking. When pan and oil are hot. add scallops to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd them. Sear for about 2 minutes per side, turning once. Don’t move them around when they’re on the pan, except to flip them once!
3. Remove the scallops from the pan and set on a paper towel to cool.
4. Whisk together mustard, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper, as desired. Dress the greens and sunchoke slices with the dressing and set them onto plates. Place the scallops on top of the greens, about 4 or 5 scallops per plate.

Serves four, as an appetizer.

→ 35 CommentsTags: food · salads · side dishes