We Have A Winner...
By way of random drawing, Congratulations Susie on your new cookbook!
Thanks everyone for commenting and keep your eyeballs peeled for more giveaways! This blog is finally generating some revenue, so we've got more giveaways coming!
So the detox is officially over! And I've survived! Well, thrived, really. And as expected, I have emerged a Gwyneth-Paltrow-obsessed-feel-good-processor-of-real-food-to-the-point-where-it's-kind-of-obnoxious butterfly!
I feel great! And I'm eating some seriously great food!
One of my favorite recipes from this week has been the braised chicken with green olives and lemon. It was so good and simple to make!! I went around work and made everyone try it the next day. :)
Braised Chicken with Green Olives + Lemon
1 chicken, quartered, at room temperature
coarse sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 shallots, sliced thinly
3 cups chicken stock
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
10 large green olives, pitted (I also quartered mine)
leaves from 1 sprig of thyme
juice of 1 lemon
Generously salt and pepper the chicken on both sides.
Place the olive oil in a large enameled cast-iron pot (a dutch oven is perfection for this job) set over high heat. Add the chicken, skin side down and cook until deeply browned, about 4-5 minutes. Turn the chicken over and let it brown on the second side, another 4-5 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Turn down the heat (to medium) and add the shallots to the pot. Stir often, until they begin to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add a splash of the chicken stock to loosen up any bits of shallot or chicken from the bottom of the pot. Add the remaining stock to the pot and add the chicken, skin side up, along with any juice that's accumulated on the plate. Scatter the garlic cloves, olives, and thyme over the chicken. Evenly pour the lemon juice over it all. Bring the mixture to a boil and turn the heat down as low as it will go, cover the pot, and cook for 1 hour, or until the chicken is nearly falling off the bone.
Uncover the pot and raise the heat. Let the pot boil to reduce and thicken the sauce, 5-6 minutes.
Like I said, this recipe is RIDICULOUS. It's probably safest to not have any loved ones nearby when you taste it for the first time, because I cannot guarantee that you won't slap them, grab them by the shoulders and shake them violently, or just embarrass them (and yourself) by just starting to sob.
The only thing that could make it better is a nice crusty bread to sop up all that sauce with. HRH Gwyneth makes no mention of bread in the recipe, but she does throw some suggestions like cooked grains, or polenta.
So how did it go?
So incredibly well.
To celebrate the end of this wonderful week, I did indulge in a food I thought I would miss (a burger), but I actually didn't miss it all that much. The food I have been making this week had so much more flavor and personality!
So, in summary, I guess I'm going to keep going!
There are so many more recipes from this book I'm excited about trying, so I actually whipped one up for dinner last night.
Haha check the link for a video how-to. Gwyneth is gettin-it. A modern day Julia Child. She's mastered the hovering and the occasional comment. Also, I had that same "ah-ha" moment as Gwyneth did when I realized the salad uses raw bok choy. I feel like sharing that moment really brought us closer together.
We're basically soul sisters now.
Comments
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaat