Fried Chicken with Roasted Lemons/Olives/Capers, Kale/Tomato Salad, Mashed Cheese Potatoes

I made another quick and easy dinner tonight. Am I getting lazy already??!! Nah, I just try to keep the food simple throughout most of the week and then do a couple of big meals. It keeps the grocery bill down and it keeps me out of the kitchen long enough to check on my other life, the non-cooking life --- which usually involves reading a foodie book. :) And what does my daughter do during all of this? Not only did my baby girl immediately accept my cooking obsessed life, but she decided to join in. She sits in the kitchen with me playing with her toy pots, pans, spatulas and ladles. It has to be one of the most adorable things I've ever seen. She actually naps with her tiny ladle. One time, when she was sound asleep, I tried to take the ladle away so she would be more comfortable. She woke up and started crying, so I gave her back the ladle and she went right back to sleep! I'm so glad she doesn't mind when momma cooks or I would be cooking a lot less!!

Tonight, I went with a slightly altered version of this recipe. I switched the green olives for black olives because I LOVE green olives and I didn't want to use them up for this one meal. And to be honest, I cannot imagine green olives working for this recipe. It's a yummy recipe, but it's easy to over-salt and I feel like the green olives might make it too salty. The recipe suggests serving it on a bed of spinach, which I didn't do, but I think it would work wonderfully. Also, I didn't cook the chicken in the sauce because I wanted to control the amount of sauce on the chicken.

The finished meal

Roast the lemons

Fried Chicken with Roasted Lemons, Olives and Capers Recipe:
Serving size = 3

Roasted Lemons:

• 12 thin lemon slices (2 lemons)
• Oil

Chicken and Sauce:

• 3 large skinless boneless chicken breasts cut in half
• All purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons of oil
• 1/2 cup of black olives (sliced or whole)
• 1 tablespoon of drained capers
• A little less than 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth
• About 1/4 of a stick of unsalted butter, maybe a tiny bit more
• 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
• S/P

Preheat oven to 325F.

Place the lemons on a glass dish or baking pan. Brush with oil, lightly salt and place in the oven for 40 minutes until the edges are lightly browned (the original recipe suggests 25 minutes, but I had to cook them longer). Set aside for later.

Lightly salt and pepper the chicken. Dredge the chicken in the flour and shake off any excess. Fry in 5 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. When the outside is brown, remove the chicken from the pan and place into a baking dish. If the chicken isn't cooked through, bake in the oven at 375F until the chicken reaches the recommended temperature. Deglaze the frying pan by pouring in the chicken stock. Stand back or the steam will cook you. Scrape the brown pieces of chicken off the bottom of the pan. Add the capers and olives, boil until the mixture reduces and thickens. Add the butter, lemon slices and parsley. Once the butter melts, pour as much on the chicken as you want and serve.

Mashed Cheese Potato Recipe:


The potatoes were easy to make. Add chopped potatoes to cold water (4 or 5 small potatoes should be enough for 3 people), boil until tender, drain and mash. Use a hand mixer and add 1-2 tablespoons of butter, a bit of milk, and a splash of cream (optional). Mix until smooth. Finish it off with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and a few tablespoons of Pecorino Romano cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Allow the kale to sit in the dressing for 20 minutes

Kale and Tomato Salad Recipe:

I've actually made a similar kale salad in the past. This is my favorite way to eat kale. Chop up the kale, add the dressing, mix and leave for 20 minutes. Add the tomatoes and serve. For the dressing, just add oil and balsamic vinegar (3:1) with a tiny bit of honey.

I linked to What's Cooking Wednesday.