Lemon rosemary chicken with roasted potatoes. This is Italian comfort food. It’s easy enough to make during the week but good enough to share with friends. With foodie friends.
It’s adapted from the lemon rosemary chicken in Michael Chiarello’s Tra Vigne Cookbook. I’ve cut back on the lemon and added a sprig of rosemary when roasting the chicken. I’ve also added a swirl of butter at the end to enrich the sauce. If you have some concentrated chicken stock it adds a nice touch too. Just add in a few tablespoons worth to put it right over the top.
Broiling the lemons mellows their bite. It’s not essential – but nice to have. If you skip this step, cut back the lemon. Maybe half a lemon. Maybe a bit more. Depends how lemony you like it. Cut the ends off the lemon if you do broil it. This gives it a “stand” on which to balance. Makes broiling lemons way easier.
lemon rosemary chicken
Ingredients
- 1 chicken quartered, 8 chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp minced parsley
- 1 tsp minced rosemary plus one sprig
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 lb small new potatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp butter (optional)
Instructions
Broil the lemon
- Cut off the ends of the lemon, then cut the lemon in half.
- Broil the lemon for about 10 minutes, until beginning to char.
- Squeeze the lemon through a strainer, pushing on the pulp. Reserve lemon juice.
- Turn off the broiler and pre-heat your oven to 425F.
The prep
- Boil the whole new potatoes in well salted water until just tender, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Reduce two cups of chicken stock by half. If you have some chicken concentrate this is a great place to use it to really boost the flavour. Add in a couple tablespoons worth.
Cook the chicken
- In a skillet large enough to hold the chicken and potatoes heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Rub the chicken with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Saute the chicken, skin side down until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken.
- Add the potatoes to the hot oil and saute, stirring to flip potatoes occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- Remove potatoes from the skillet and pour off the oil.
- Place the sprig of rosemary in the bottom of the skillet. Place chicken over top then sprinkle the potatoes around the chicken.
- Roast the chicken in a 425F oven until the white meat reaches an internal temperature of 165F. You want 175F on dark meat. Legs tend to be smaller so they will probably reach 175F before the breasts reach 165F . Don’t worry too much about it. The legs will be fine if you overshoot a bit.
- Remove the chicken, potatoes and rosemary from the pan. Place pan over medium heat.
- Add the garlic, parsley and rosemary and cook briefly, being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add the reserved lemon juice and reduce until you get close to a syrupy graze. Add the stock (and some concentrated chicken stock if you have it) and reduce slightly.
- Return chicken and potatoes to the pan and place in the oven to heat through, about 3-5 minutes. If you want to put it over the top, swirl in a couple tablespoons of butter off heat to enrich.
Pork chops with mushroom cream sauce is the grown-up version of a childhood classic.
OK – hands up. Who doesn’t love pork chops with mushroom soup? Did you grow up on it?
For me it’s a childhood memory. It’s what I crave when I’m home sick. When I want to just curl up and whimper.
These pork chops with mushroom cream sauce follow pretty much the same recipe – just upscales it. This is the dinner party version of the Campbell soup classic.
It’s rich, delicious comfort food. And it isn’t much harder to make than the 1950s classic.
Pork chops with mushroom cream sauce are weeknight food
There’s not much to making these. The extra step is whipping up a quick “cream of mushroom soup”. Fry some mushrooms, add some liquid. Puree. Once you do that it’s the same recipe your mom taught you.
Choice of pork chops is key here. Thin supermarket chops aren’t going to cut it.
You need time in the oven for the Maillard flavours to develop. For the meat to brown and throw a fond. Deep flavours take time.
And with pork chops time isn’t something you have a lot of. I’d say 1 inch in the minimum you can get away with here.
Oven temperature is also critical. You want the juices to form a fond. Those wonderful brown bits make this dish. The flavour you get from the pan is what’s going to take this from average to delicious.
You want your oven hot. 350F is not hot enough. 400F is about right.
You can play with the recipe a bit too. As written it’s good. If you want it creamier, add more cream.
If you want to add a bit of spice, piment d’esplette is really nice.
If you want to go crazy truffle salt or oil takes it to a whole new level. That’s serious dinner party fare.
Pork chops with mushroom cream sauce. Not your parent’s pork chops with mushroom soup. But not so different either. Like you remember. Only better.
