Home Cooking

There is just something about small town life that you miss when you’re away.

I was home for a few days and the first thing that welcomed me home was the wailing repeated melody coming from the cicadas. Brought a smile to my face. All that was missing was the porch swing (which was quickly taken care of and then got some citronella candles b/c of those nagging mosquitoes). Home.

Morning on the porch swing

Holding "paws" with my Cooper

The “quick” trip to the store and farmers market turns into a much longer trip than anticipated. You bumped into Mr. J at the farmers market and brought him up to speed with you life, and make small talk, then shoot the breeze with the each of the vendors you visit with (and happen to know since some of them taught you varied levels of math or coached you). Then run into one of your grade school teachers while on the spice isle at the store and then catching her up with where you are, and small talk.  Whatever part of the store you’re in or farmers market you're at… you see somebody and speak. The polite and Southern thing to do… always speak.

Every time I’m home, I always cook at least one meal for the family, more if I’m home for longer than a couple of days. I love when the family gets together and just hangs out in the kitchen. This time I made one of my go-to items then threw in a few new things. My family always knows when I’m cooking… The clues they have (minus the smells coming from the kitchen) are my music playing and the pups can be found at my feet being my “sous chefs”.

My little "sous chefs" They also clean up the floor :)

My go-to item this time was mint and garlic roasted chickens (I do 2 or 3). I make up a marinade consisting of garlic, mint, orange juice, a few spices and some olive oil. I like to let my chicks marinate over night, if I don’t have the time then a couple of hours will do. I always save the leftover marinade and make a sauce out of it… boil it for a good two minutes or more… I always go more since I just put it over a burner and let it go and stir it every once in a while. Kill any germs or bacteria… don’t need anybody getting sick. If you don't have a rotisserie, no worries. I've baked them in the oven at 375 degrees F till internal temp reached 160 degrees F. Just put the chickens in a roasting pan or a baking dish large enough to hold them.

This is a great recipe! It can be found in " Weber's Art of the Grill: Recipes for Outdoor Living" 

The roasted chicks always look so pretty and are very tender and juicy. One thing I do to get more of the flavor in the chicken is to stuff the cavity of the chicks with slices of oranges, smashed garlic cloves and few sprigs of mint. Tie the legs together and put it on the rotisserie (if you have one) and let them do their thing. If you don’t have rotisserie, I’ve put the chicks in a roasting pan with the roasting rack and let them cook in a 375 degree F oven till they reach internal temp of 165-170 degrees F. I go for 160 degrees F because of carry over cooking.

2 whole chickens in the marinade 

Chicks on the rotisserie 

I made a couple of new items for my family to try. The first was a roasted veggie salad, and the second was a cherry tomato gratin. They were both a hit with the family. Even more so since the recipes were healthy.

The roasted veggie salad I created consisted of parsnips, carrots, squash, zucchini and roasted sweet corn. I roasted all the veggies on separate sheet trays (simply tossed them in olive oil salt and pepper) and the corn I did slightly different. First, I halved a couple of limes and made a mixture of sea salt and chili powder in a small bowl. I then got one of the half of lime and put it in the slat mixture then rubbed the lime half on the ear of sweet corn, little drizzle of olive oil and then wrapped up the corn in tin foil and roasted it in the oven. I repeated the process on the remaining ears of corn. When the ears have cooled a little bit, I remove them from the foil then cut the corn off the cob.

The veggies for the Veggie Salad

Toss all the veggies together with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, lime juice and chili powder. I like to serve it chilled. You could serve it warm or room temp as well. It is still tasty either way.

The cherry tomato gratin was very tasty. I used the recipe for Ina Garten as a guide. I changed it up a little bit by instead of putting in the parsley and the thyme in, I opted to mirror the flavors from the chicks and the veggie salad. Instead, I grated some lime zest into the bread crumbs, added in chili powder, and mixed in the olive oil as well. I still tossed the cherry tomatoes with a smoked salt, pepper, minced garlic and olive oil. I wanted more color variation as well so I did red and yellow cherry tomatoes. They both added different sweetness and acidity to the each bite. It baked up beautifully! I only got the before shots of the gratin but wasn't able to get a shot of the after... it was that good. I've made the original recipe and it is great!

Cherry Tomato Gratin assembly 

I'm serious about stuffing the cavity of the chicks... I can always tell a difference when I don't stuff them. They have more flavor when I do. ANOTHER thing about the chicks... If you can't get a whole chicken, I've made that recipe with boneless/skinless and bone-in/skin-on. For the boneless/skinless I still marinate the chicken and I will grill the chicken. For the bone-in/skin-on I like to loose the skin a little and put mint sprigs, crushed garlic and an orange slice under the skin and roast them in the oven. 

Enjoy! Happy Eating!!


Here is the recipe for the Mint and Garlic Chicken

Garlic and Mint Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

·      10-12 medium garlic cloves

·      1 ½ cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

·      1 Tablespoon chili powder

·      1 teaspoon kosher salt

·      ½ teaspoon ground pepper

·      ¼ cup olive oil

·      ¼ cup orange juice

·      2 Tablespoons soy sauce

·      1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)

-       *In a blender add peeled garlic, mint, chili powder, pepper, olive oil, orange juice and soy sauce; puree till smooth.

-       *In a gallon Ziploc bag place chicken then pour the marinade in.

-       *Let marinate over night

-       *Cook whole chicken indirectly over high heat till the juices run clear and internal temp is 160°F .