Roasted Chicken Breast with Lemony Bombay Potatoes...and a sweet treat

After all the indulgence of the past few days, I've been trying to get back to basics.  I went out to a large farmer's market today and stocked up on all sorts of fresh Ontario produce....new potatoes, garlic, celeriac, butternut squash, sweet potato, pears, nectarines, peppers, and blackberries.  I defrosted a couple of chicken breasts for dinner, but wasn't sure what to do with them.  Ok, shake and bake and mashed potatoes for the kids, but what about me? 

290.  Roasted Chicken Breast with Lemony Bombay Potatoes (Cook With Jamie, page 187)

JamieOliver.com recipe link

I love these recipes that serve only one.  I've done a couple of them before, but this one jumped out at me tonight because of the ingredients I had on hand.  So I scrubbed up some new potatoes (a few were even from my garden!)  and cut them into 1 inch dice.  I boiled them in salted water, mashed the majority, and put mine aside.  In a bowl, I combined ground turmeric & cumin with the zest and juice of a lemon (reserving a couple of slices for garnish).  I added salt & pepper, a lug of olive oil, a few stalks of chopped cilantro from the garden, a knob of ginger sliced finely, and about half of a pimento pepper I'd purchased at the market, roughly chopped. 

I combined the potatoes and chicken with the mixture in the bowl, and spread everything out on a small, foil covered tray.  I put this in the oven to bake at 400 F for about 30 minutes, alongside the boring shake and bake chicken for the kids.

 

 

Before and after!  I was impressed that the lemon flavour was not overwhelming but really blended in with the other spices.  Since I didn't add any chile it wasn't spicy, but I find ginger always gives it a bit of a kick. 

 

Afterwards, my daughter came in with a store-bought cake, but it wasn't for us....it was for a party she had been invited to.  My son asked me what we were going to have for dessert?  And immediately, these came to mind.

 

This post has been linked to the Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop at Gastronomical Sovereignty, and the Friday Foodie Fix at the W.H.O.L.E. Gang!

 

291.  Little Frangipane Tarts (Jamie's Meals in Minutes, page 32)

 

FoodNetwork.ca recipe link

 

Remember when I made the Pregnant Jools's Pasta?  This was supposed to go with it, but at the time, we had cake of our own to eat.  The tart shells were already waiting in the freezer, so I pulled them out and quickly whipped up the filling.  It's a simple mix of butter, ground almonds, sugar, egg, vanilla and orange zest.  Then, you are supposed to layer your tarts with a teaspoon of jam (I used strawberry), filling, jam and filling again.  I was too lazy to do layers, let's be honest.  So the jam is at the bottom and the filling is at the top.  But it all tastes the same when you eat it!

 

 

 I popped these into a 375 F oven for 18 minutes exactly as per the recipe, and they were perfect.  I let them cool for a bit before indulging in a couple.  What can I say?  It's hard to get back into the swing of things after a holiday, even if it is only a 55 hour road trip!  But they were delicious.  I'm hoping my son will eat the rest today, while I motor off to enjoy the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto with a friend.  ;)  Uh oh, I sense more indulgence coming up......