I love having friends over for dinner if only for the odd looks I get when I whip out my camera to take snaps of the process. This particular meal was no different; I had one friend look at me as if I had lost my mind and the other sympathetic head bob with scrunched nose, as if to say "you're so... special"
Today's menu:
Sauteed Rosemary potatoes
Garlic Eggplant
Roasted Basil Chicken
I love the "pick me" section of the produce area/ie "need to eat me soon". It is here that I took the adventure of some potatoes I didn't know well:
Fingerling, Purple Peruvian and Red potatoes
After rinsing them thoroughly, I sliced them all up into about .25" thick slices.
About the same time I melted some butter on the stove and cooked in some freshly chopped Basil.
With butter now cooled, no longer liquid, and the potatoes sliced and waiting in the pot, it was time for the chicken. After laying the leg quarters out in a Pyrex I used a sharp knife to make about an 1.5" wide slit in the skin but not the meat.
Then take the, now mostly solid, butter and push, any where around, a teaspoon into the slit you made in the skin.
Then to match the potatoes some I dusted the tops of the chicken with a bit of Rosemary, Oregeno, Salt, Pepper, and the tiniest bit of Celery seed. Then placed it in the oven at 350 and set it to cook for 30-45 minutes (depending on the pounds of meat).
Chicken in the oven cooking away I came back to the potatoes: I poured olive oil over them,just enough so the potatoes look evenly most and the bottom of the pan has a very small amount. Dusted the top with Rosemary, Salt, Pepper, a small bit of Garlic and a very small bit of dried ground Habanero pepper. Set the stove top at a medium heat and covered the pan, stirring occasionally.
I sliced the Eggplant into decent but not too great of size then placed it in a small pan with a bit of oil, Garlic and Basil. Put it over a just under medium heat, covered it, stirred occasionally.
Sadly I forgot to plate this one up... guess I was too anxious to eat it! By the time I remembered we had already gone through all the Eggplant and most the other two! Very tasty and a pretty low maintance dish: more importantly the full meal for five costs only 13! I got the chicken on sale for $.49 Lbs, the potatoes and Eggplant where both in the nearing to go bad discount section at Harris Teeter (totaling out at a whopping $4).
Is it bad that I get so excited at being cheap. My soon to be new brother in law said something along the lines of "You are more excited about the deal then what you get"... he found that odd. I find it awesome, but then again I'm biased.
