Now and Later Recipes: Roasted Vegetables Become Pasta Primavera

Can't get the kids to eat their veggies? Caramelizing vegetables turns ho-hum into yum-yum and all it takes is a roasting pan and a little olive oil.

Roasted vegetables make an excellent side dish that works well with fish, chicken, or meat. Healthy and inexpensive, they add levels of flavor to grilled chicken breast, hamburger patties, or sauteed fish.

Vegetables take very little time to prepare. They'll keep in the refrigerator for several days so you can make them ahead and use them when it suits you.

If truth be told, they can even be frozen. When reheated, no one will be the wiser.

Now: Roasted Vegetables
Later: Pasta Primavera West Coast Style

Now: Roasted Vegetables

What you roast is up to you. Tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, corn on the cob in the summer, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, onions, garlic cloves, squash, parsnips, sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts, fennel, leeks....

Choose your vegetables for taste and appearance. The Italians certainly got it right when they perfected this technique. A plate of roasted vegetables is as beautiful as a flower arrangement.

Both our boys were early eaters of vegetables because we roasted or, in the summer, grilled them. The technique is the same for either; toss the vegetables in olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper, and cook until soft but with some crunch and lightly browned.

If you live in an area with farmers' markets, take advantage of them. Walking past the farmers' tables will give you ideas. When the cherry tomatoes are in season, red and orange baskets are everywhere. Buy a couple and use one basket in salads and the other for roasting, to serve as a side dish or added to pastas and soups.

Yield 4 servings with left-overs (which you'll need for the Later recipe)

Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

4 large carrots, washed, peeled, cut into 1/4" thick rounds or 1/4" thick slabs 1 1/2" long
2 medium sized yellow onions, washed, peeled and cored, cut into quarters
4 ears of corn, husks and silks removed, washed, cut into 2" long sections
2 bunches asparagus, washed, white ends trimmed off
2 large broccoli head, washed, the end trimmed, sliced into pieces 1" wide
1/4 cup olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl drizzle olive oil over the vegetables, season with sea salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up. Put the vegetables into the roasting pan and put in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes for even cooking.

Each vegetable takes a different amount of time to cook, so check each one for doneness before you remove them from the oven.

Serve hot from the oven.

Later: Pasta Primavera West Coast Style

Because the vegetables can be kept refrigerated for 2-3 days or frozen for several weeks, this is a great last-minute meal when you're feeling rushed.

On the West Coast we love vegetables, so anything goes, as I said above. Roast or grill whatever you like.

Yield 4 servings

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 cups roasted vegetables, roughly chopped
1 pound pasta, spaghetti, fussili, ziti, or penne
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sweet butter
1 1/2 cups pasta water from making the pasta
Sea salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Kosher salt

Directions

Boil a large pot of water. Add the Kosher salt. Add the pasta. To prevent sticking, stir well throughout the cooking, about 10 minutes. Put a heat-proof cup or a Pyrex measuring cup that can hold 1 1/2 cups into the sink next to the strainer. When you drain the pasta, capture 1 1/2 cups of pasta water. Set aside.

Put the pasta back into the pot. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the pasta. Toss well. Season with sea salt and pepper. Toss. To keep the pasta warm, lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pot but do not seal. Set aside.

Put the roasted vegetables in a large frying pan, on a medium flame. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and the sweet butter and reduce over a medium flame for 5 minutes. Toss the vegetables to coat.

Add the pasta and another 1/2 cup of pasta water. Toss the pasta and vegetables to mix well. If you need more liquid, add more of the pasta water.

Just before serving, pour the pasta, broth and vegetables into a large bowl. Serve with the grated cheese alongside.

Variations

To add heat, put 1/4 teaspoon of tabasco or a pinch of cayenne when you're heating the vegetables.

Add Italian parsley, leaves only, finely chopped.

Add 2 cups sliced cooked chicken breast.

Add 1 cup raw shrimp, washed, deveined, roughly chopped to the vegetables when you add the pasta water.

Eating with the Seasons in Italy

I met Ashley and Jason Bartner on line. We connected through our love of cooking, good food, and travel. I read about their new life in Italy and I am very jealous. Not that I want to trade places--I love our life in Pacific Palisades--but I would definitely enjoy a long weekend or even a month staying at their farm house in Piobbico in the Marche region, just below Emilia-Romagna and east of Umbria on the Adriatic Sea.

They were generous enough to send me a description of their life and a few recipes which I can't wait to try. fyi: A "glug" is roughly 1 tablespoon.

After years of travel and eating our way through every city, state and country we visited, we decided to share our love for food with others in an unique way in the Marches, Italy and opened La Tavola Marche Agriturismo & Cooking School. We took a leap of faith and traded in the hustle bustle of life in NYC to slow down in every aspect of our lives & started growing our own food in the Italian countryside!

Jason is a professional Executive Chef & I am a customer service/hostess extraordinaire and currently write a monthly column for Italia! Magazine. During our travels to Italy, we felt at home & really enjoyed the diversity of recipes in each region combined with the atmosphere of staying on a working farm or agriturismo - plus the Italians & their passion for life & good food!!

We love connecting our guests to the people, land & culture of this little known-region through the food! That is exactly why we decided to work for ourselves & open an inn, farm & cooking school in Italy! We were ready for a change...Why not?! We thought we were just crazy enough to pull it off! It took us a year & a half from our first trip to Italy to living here! And we've never looked back ~

Slow Food & slow living is huge for us! Here we live it everyday- we have slowed down in all aspects of our food & life here in Italy! For us, Slow Food philosophy translates to celebrating traditional Italian country living by eating locally & seasonally and becoming s self-sufficient as possible. This is a complete shift in our 'previous life' in the States.

We are so lucky that our neighbors & friends have taught us the ropes: from age-old family recipes to plucking chickens! It's all new to us and if we can do it - so can you! In the winter Jason makes sausages & salami by hand & hangs them to dry in the rafters of the house and in the summer months, since I can't cook, I contribute by creating home made liquors! It is such a kick to create these homemade treats!We jar, jam & preserve fruits & veggies in the summer extending their season -we even make our own homemade liquors! The most full-filling aspect is that we grow our own fruits & vegetables - from apple, cherry & plum trees surrounding the house to our enormous farm garden with over 600 onions, 400 tomato plants, loads of lettuces, spinach, garlic, cucumber, pepper, eggplant, melons, zucchini, pumpkins, radishes & more!!

Wild game, mushrooms & truffles as well as strawberries, blackberries, asparagus, wild dandelion greens & much more are collected from the woods behind our house! We are really excited because this spring we are adding CHICKENS! And this coming from two city kids! Our neighbors are in awe by "young Americans" with the most beautiful garden! Locals stop by to eye the goods & leave with an armful of gifts from the garden!!

The most incredible part for us is being accepted into the small farming community of Piobbico where we live, making a world of difference in our their experiences. As always in Italy, the conversations turn to food as neighbors pop in to say hello & see what's cooking! At first the thought of an American Chef cooking traditional local dishes did not blow over well - they figured all he could do was hamburgers & hot dogs! But that has all changed!

Now Jason is thought of as kin in the kitchen - grandma's are always sharing their secret recipes and he is trusted with cooking for big holidays & family events - for Italians! As testament - opening day of hunting season was celebrated at our farmhouse with a feast of wild game with a huge group of hungry local hunters!

We just love sharing this experience/connection to food with our guests - we specialize in Cucina povera (peasant cooking) with farm to the table cooking classes. Each cooking class starts with a walk through the garden to collect the night’s dinner.

Jason is so very proud of what he has created & loves sharing that with our guests - and it seems to be contagious! Many guests return home with a longing to eat locally, start a garden, join a CSA & all around become more connected with the food they are eating & understanding where it comes from!

Here you will eat what your fed, there is no menu options & the guests love it! This gives us the freedom to work with what is at the height of the season & best looking at the market each day. Guests are surprised by every dish, with whispers of 'what's to come next...' Jason enjoys the time he spends at each table explaining the dish, it's history & ingredients or where the meat is from. It helps connect them to the food they are about to eat.

"We hope our guests take home a taste of la dolce vita, the simplicity of good cooking, great stories to share, and an appetite to return."

RECIPES FROM OUR FARMHOUSE

I wanted to share 2 recipes that are easy to recreate, tasty and represent our area in the winter.

CHICKEN LIVER CROSTINI

Yield 6 servings

Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
6 chicken livers, trimmed
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Scant 1/2 cup dry white wine
2 egg yolks
Juice of 1 lemon, strained
4-6 whole-wheat bread slices, lightly toasted
Sea salt & pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the carrot, onion and celery and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Dip the chicken livers into the vinegar, pat dry with paper towels and add to skilled. Pour in the wine and season with salt & pepper.

Cook, stirring frequently, until browned. Remove the chicken livers from the skillet and chop finely, then return them to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes more. Beat together the egg yolks and lemon juice in a bowl. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the egg yolk mixture.

Spread on slices of lightly toasted bread. Serve immediately.

OSSO BUCO

Yield 4 servings

Time 2 hours

Ingredients

4 pieces of osso buco--veal shank
A nice size carrot, chopped finely
A nice onion, chopped finely
A couple cloves of garlic, smashed & remove the skin
1 bay leaf

Any aromatics you like - rosemary, we used juniper berries because we have them in the woods
A little flour for dusting
Sea salt & pepper
A good handful, about 5 oz, of canned tomatoes, skins removed or fresh tomatoes with skins & seeds removed
Olive oil
Butter
White wine, a couple of glugs
Half a cup of water or stock

Method

Salt & pepper the osso buco & then dredge in the flour. In a good size casserole or roasting pan, on med-high heat, add a glug or 2 of olive oil & a pad of butter.

Sauté the osso buco for 2 minutes on each side.

Then add the vegetables & continue cooking the osso buco, turning frequently until it is nice & colored.

Add the white wine cook until the wine is reduced by 2/3. Add the tomatoes, aromatics, crack of pepper & salt, water or stock & bring up to a simmer.

Remove from stove & place in a 350 degree oven, uncovered for about an hour & half or until the centers of the bone have melted away & the meat is falling away from the bone.

If you need to add a little more water or stock towards the end, do so.

Serve over polenta, potatoes or rice to soak up the juices.

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Now & Later Recipes: A BLT Helps Prepare Bacon Topped Pasta

A classic lunchtime sandwich, a BLT is everyone's favorite. The only downside of making the main ingredient, bacon, is the dirty-pan cleanup. But like they say at garage sales and in thrift stores, one person's trash is another person's treasure.

That dirty pan is actually the starting point for our Later meal, a delicious dinner entree of pasta with parsley, mushrooms, and bacon.

Now: BLT
Later: Spaghetti Topped with Crispy Bacon

Now: BLT

With a BLT, a little goes a long way. Think of bacon as the flavor part of the sandwich. The lettuce and tomato make up the bulk of what is actually a very nutritious, healthy meal. Adding a slice of ripe avocado makes the sandwich even more filling and flavorful.

Yield 4 servings

Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

8 slices bacon (4 for Now; 4 for Later)
8 slices bread
4 lettuce leaves, red leaf, romaine, or iceberg
1 large ripe tomato
1 medium ripe avocado (optional0
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Toast the bread if you want and set aside to cool. To cook the bacon, don't use a nonstick pan. Because you want the flavor bits, use a stainless steel or cast iron pan.

Over a low flame, lay the bacon in the pan so the slices don't touch. Turn the slices over so they brown evenly. Once they're crisp, lay them on paper towels to drain.

Pour off the fat but otherwise don't clean the frying pan. Put the pan and half the bacon aside to use for the Later recipe.

Spread a thin layer of mayo on each piece of bread. I've found the sandwich is easier to cut if I slice the bread in half at the beginning. Then I build each sandwich, one half at a time.

Each half has a piece of crisp bacon, 1-2 pieces of lettuce, and a slice of tomato. Add a slice of ripe avocado if you want. Also optional is a thin slice of red onion. Season with sea salt and pepper.

Serve with pickles or chips.

Later: Spaghetti Topped with Crispy Bacon

To make the sauce there are many ingredients you can use. I like a simple saute of onions, garlic, parsley, and mushrooms. The crisp bacon and grated cheese are used as a topping.

If you wanted, you could saute Italian sausage, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, or broccoli. Instead of spaghetti, use any pasta you or your kids enjoy. For seasoning, you could also add oregano or rosemary.

Yield 4 servings

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 slices of cooked bacon
1 pound pasta
1 medium yellow onion, peeled, roughly chopped
1 cup Italian parsley, washed, dried
1/2 pound mushrooms, brown, shiitake, or portabella, washed, sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sweet butter
Sea salt and pepper
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1 cup pasta water

Directions

First make the pasta by filling a large pot with water. Add 3 tablespoons kosher salt. Avoid using table salt because of the metallic taste. Bring to a boil.

Add the pasta and stir. Most pasta cooks in 10 minutes or less. To prevent sticking and even cooking, stir frequently. Taste a piece for doneness. To capture the pasta water, place a heat-resistant cup in the sink. Hold the colander over the cup and pour in the pasta and the cooking water. Set the pasta water aside.

Return the pasta to the pot. Drizzle with olive oil, add 1 tablespoon butter, season with sea salt and pepper, and toss well. Lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top to keep the pasta warm. Do not seal the pot.

In the frying pan with the bacon flavor bits, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat over a medium flame. Add the garlic, onions, parsley, and mushrooms. Saute until lightly brown.

Add the pasta water to deglaze the pan. Stir so the flavor bits come off the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the butter and stir. Reduce the liquid until 1/3 - 1/4 the original volume. Taste and adjust the seasoning with the sea salt and pepper. Since the pasta water is salty, you may not need additional sea salt.

Add the pasta to the pan and toss well to coat with the sauce.

Serve with grated cheese.

Now & Later Receipes--Grilled Corn Has a Second Act as Salad

Besides outdoor grilling, days at the beach, fried chicken, ripe tomatoes, and ice cold watermelon, corn on the cob is one of the great markers of summer.

When I was growing up, my mom loved to search out road side stands that sold fresh corn. She'd buy a grocery bag full and we'd feast on boiled corn with slabs of melting butter, seasoned liberally with salt and pepper.

I still enjoy corn that way, but now more often than not our corn on the cob comes to the table grilled not boiled.

Shucked and drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and pepper, then turned on a grill until lightly browned, the naturally sweet kernels are sweetened even more by caramelization. Yumm.

For a snack, nothing is better than an ear of corn pulled from the refrigerator. But there's more that can be done with those grilled ears of corn. Cutting the kernels off, they can go into a chopped salad and move from side dish to entree.

And on hot days, that's another marker of summer--putting meals on the table with as little effort as possible.

Now: Farmers' Market Fresh Grilled Corn on the Cob
Later: Grilled Corn and Chopped Vegetable Salad

NOW: Grilled Corn on the Cob

The most important part of this recipe is the corn itself. The fresher the corn, the better the taste. When you're picking out corn, select ears that have green husks and golden silks.

Yield 4 servings plus left-overs (which you will need for the LATER recipe)

Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

8 ears of corn, shucked, silks removed, washed
3 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat the grill.

Break the ears in half or cut into 3" lengths. The ears you're saving to make the salad can be left whole. Pour the olive oil onto a large plate. Season with sea salt and pepper. Roll each piece of corn in the oil.

Using tongs, grill the corn on all sides until lightly browned. Remove from the grill and serve hot.

LATER: Parsley-Corn Chopped Salad

The salad can be prepared ahead and refrigerated but is tastes better if served at room temperature.

Yield 4 servings

Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

3-4 ears of grilled corn
1 large bunch Italian parsley, washed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, skin on
1 tablespoon yellow onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, washed, peeled, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Put the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and reduce by half over a low flame. Set aside to cool.

Using a sharp knife, cut off the kernels and put into a mixing bowl. Stick the garlic clove on a skewer or the point of a sharp knife. Char in a flame so the skin burns off. Brush off any bits of burnt skin and roughly chop the garlic.

Add the charred garlic, parsley, and onions to the mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and reduced balsamic vinegar. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.

Transfer to a serving dish.

Variations

Instead of using a raw carrot, grill a carrot cut into slabs 1/4" thick; dredged the slabs in seasoned olive oil and grill until lightly browned; let cool and chop into pieces the same size as the corn kernels; add to the salad

Grill asparagus dredged in seasoned olive oil, then chop into pieces and add to the salad

Quarter cherry tomatoes and add to the salad

Add 1 cup cooked couscous

Add 1 medium sized avocado, peeled, roughly chopped

Add 6 medium sized shrimp, washed, peeled, deveined, and grilled, roughly shopped

Crumble 3 pieces of crisp bacon on the salad and toss

Shred 1/2 cup turkey or chicken breast and add to the salad

Now and Later Meals - Rosemary Fried Chicken and Chicken with Fresh Vegetables

Growing up, my mom liked to make fried chicken from scratch. Always an efficient cook, she would make more than we could eat, knowing that we enjoyed the left-overs.

At night we'd have fried chicken with mashed potatoes and peas with butter. The next day when we'd go to the beach, she would pack up last night's fried chicken, throw in some biscuits with a jar of honey, a bag of carrot sticks, and a big jug of iced lemonade.

After my sister and I would get tired of splashing around in the water, we'd dry off and sit on our blankets, contentedly munching away on our fried chicken. To this day, whenever I eat fried chicken, I flash back to those days on the beach.

Now: Rosemary Fried Chicken
Later: Chicken with Farm Fresh Vegetables

NOW: Rosemary Fried Chicken

Few eating experiences are as satisfying as biting into the salty-crunchy outside and reaching the sweet, moist meat underneath. To cut down on calories I remove the skin and use the lightest flour dusting I can.

Soaking the chicken in buttermilk overnight tenderizes the meat and helps adhere the seasoned flour.

Yield 4-6 servings with left-overs (which you will need for the LATER recipe)

Time 45 minutes cooking, marinate the chicken overnight in buttermilk

Ingredients

2 whole chickens, washed, cut apart, skin removed if desired, wing tips, bones, and skin reserved to make chicken stock
1 quart buttermilk
5 cups flour
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 quarts safflower or canola oil

Directions

When you cut up the chicken, separate the two parts of the wing and cut the breast meat off the bone. Keep or discard the skin as you wish. The breasts can be left whole but will cook more evenly when cut into strips or tenders. The legs and thighs can be cut in half if you have a heavy chef's knife.

Toss the chicken pieces with olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Put the pieces in a container, add the buttermilk, 1 tablespoon of the rosemary, stir, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Using a wok or deep frying pan, heat the cooking oil to 325 - 350 degrees or until a piece of parsley browns immediately when dropped in the oil. Before you begin cooking, prepare your counter. Have a slotted spoon or an Asian style strainer ready. Lay two paper towels on top of a piece of brown grocery bag paper on a large plate.

Reserve 1 teaspoon of the rosemary to use just before serving.
In a brown paper bag mix together the flour, sea salt, pepper, rosemary, cayenne (optional), sugar (optional), and onions (optional). Remove one piece of chicken at a time. Shake off the excess buttermilk, drop the piece into the paper bag with the seasoned flour, close the top of the bag, and shake. Repeat with all the pieces, assembling them on a plate or cutting board.

Cook the chicken in batches. Gently drop each piece into the hot oil, making sure it doesn't touch the other pieces so each one cooks evenly.

Turn over when browned on one side. Remove when golden brown and drain on the paper towels. The pieces will cook quickly: chicken tenders (breast) 2-3 minutes; wings 7-8 minutes; thighs & legs 10-12 minutes.

Just before serving, lightly dust the chicken pieces with 1 teaspoon of rosemary, sea salt and pepper.

If you are making deep fried vegetables like onion rings or broccoli florets, they cook even more quickly: thick rings cook in 30 seconds, thin rings in 5-6 seconds; broccoli in 30 seconds. Soak the vegetables in the seasoned buttermilk for a few minutes, then process like the chicken pieces.

LATER: Chicken with Fresh Vegetables

Since the chicken is already cooked, all you're really doing is cooking the vegetables and reheating the chicken. As the chicken cooks in the liquid, the breading will thicken the water, creating a deeply satisfying gravy.

Yield 4-6 servings

Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

All the left-over fried chicken pieces
2 carrots, washed, peeled, roughly chopped
10 brown or shiitake mushrooms, washed, thinly sliced and chopped
1 large broccoli, washed, crowns removed, stems roughly chopped
1 medium yellow onion, peeled, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, skins removed, finely chopped
4 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Saute in the olive oil over medium-low heat the vegetables until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Season with sea salt and pepper. Add the fried chicken and water. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve in bowls with a portion of chicken, vegetables, and gravy in each. Cooked rice can be put on the bottom or steamed spinach.

Now and Later Meals - Braised Chicken with Vegetables and (Later) with Couscous and Spinach

One way to beat the dinner-time crunch is to cook once but create two meals. One meal to eat that night, the other to eat the next day or freeze in an air-tight container.

From experience I've found that braised chicken serves the cause very well. Because I know I want to use the chicken for two meals, I choose legs or thighs. Unlike chicken breasts, dark meat creates a savory sauce and doesn't dry out when braised.

Add a green salad and steamed rice, cooked pasta, mashed potatoes, or a fresh loaf of bread and you'll have an affordable, nutritious, healthy dinner.

Now: Braised Chicken with Farmers' Market Fresh Vegetables

The basis for the deeply flavored sauce is a technique familiar to many cuisines. Finely chopped vegetables are sauteed in an oil until lightly browned. Seasoned with spices, a liquid is added and reduced. In French it's called a mirepoix, in Spanish sofrito, and in Italian soffritto. The ingredients vary, but garlic and onions are pretty much constants.

For this dish I shopped at our local farmers' market and used onions, garlic, carrots, broccoli stems, brown mushrooms, and corn off the cob.

Most of the ingredients can be swapped out for others.

Instead of onions, I could have used shallots or leeks, any of which will caramelize and add sweetness to the sauce. I used broccoli stems because my kids only eat the crowns and I don't like throwing away the stems. You can use the crowns and zucchini, squash, and tomatoes as well.

When I made the dish last night, I kept the skins on, but if you want to lower the fat content, remove the skins.

Yield 4 servings plus left-overs
Time 30 minutes preparation, 1 1/2 - 2 hours cooking

Ingredients

10 chicken legs or thighs, about 3 1/2 pounds, washed, pat dry
1 cup broccoli stems, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 cup yellow onion, peeled, finely chopped
1 cup carrots, peeled, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 cup brown mushrooms, washed, finely chopped
2 cups corn kernels from 2 ears of corn
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
3 cups water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a large covered pan like a Dutch oven or roasting pan. Heat the oil on a medium flame. Use tongs and add the chicken pieces. Season with sea salt and pepper. Turn frequently until the chicken is lightly brown, about 20 minutes. Remove and set aside. Discard the fat.

In the same pan, add the other tablespoon of olive oil, season with sea salt and pepper. Add all the vegetables. Lightly brown. Stir frequently to avoid burning, about 8-10 minutes.

Pour in 3 cups of water. Stir well to deglaze the pan so the flavor bits get into the liquid. Add back the cooked chicken pieces. Cover and put in the oven. After 60 minutes, use the tongs to turn over the chicken pieces. Cover and return to the oven for another 30-60 minutes.

The chicken is cooked when the meat is separating from the bone. Taste and adjust the seasonings with sea salt and pepper. If you want a thicker sauce, reduce the liquid over a medium flame.

To serve, place the chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour the sauce on top.

Later: Chicken with Easy-to-Make Moroccan-Style Couscous

Assuming you have half of the chicken and sauce left-over, this dish takes very little time to prepare.

The sort of couscous served in Morocco is delicious but difficult and time-consuming to prepare. The "instant" kind can be found in some grocery stores, upscale, specialty and health food markets.

If you haven't used couscous before, meet your new best kitchen-helper.

Couscous costs pennies per serving and takes next to no effort to make. It can be served hot or cold, in a salad, as a side dish, or, as in this recipe, as a main dish.

Yield 4 servings
Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

4-5 chicken legs or thighs, cooked as above
2 cups sauce with vegetables, cooked as above
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 bunch spinach, washed to remove grit, stems removed, roughly chopped
2 cups whole wheat or regular "instant" couscous
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups water
Sea salt and pepper

Directions

Boil 2 1/2 cups of water. Put the couscous into a large boil. Pour the hot water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the bowl and stir well. Cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes, remove the covering, and fluff the couscous with a fork.

In a large pot, saute the cumin, turmeric, and garlic in the olive oil until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the golden raisins, cooked chicken, sauce, and chopped spinach.

Stir well to submerge the spinach in the sauce--if you need more liquid, add a cup of water--and simmer 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper.

Put the couscous in a large bowl, ladle the chicken and sauce on top and serve immediately. Alternately, portion out the couscous, chicken and sauce into individual bowls.

Tip: when I have the time, I'll take the meat off the bones to make the dish easier to eat. The kids definitely appreciate that.