Garlic Chicken and Summer Squash

I was so busy today, between shopping at the farmer's market with the cutest baby in the world and working on my book, that I almost forgot to make dinner.
We bought a free-range chicken at the butcher the other day and thawed it today. In my half-crazed hurry to get it started, I just threw the first few things I found in the house together in a bowl, slathered it on, and got cooking. The squash was a $2 find at the farmer's market.

Ingredients for chicken:

One whole chicken, innards removed and rinsed under cool water
3 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp fresh sage, ripped up into bits
a few random shakes of seasoned salt and seasoned pepper
three sprigs of thyme and a couple of whole sage leaves
two garlic cloves, halved

Once the chicken is rinsed off and set on the roasting pan, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Gently push your fingers under the skin of the breast and drumsticks to separate it from the meat. Stuff the last three ingredients into the cavity of the chicken. Mix the minced garlic, sea salt, pepper, sage, and the random shakes of spices in a small bowl. Rub this mixture all over the skin and under the parts of skin you pulled up. Bake for 1 hr and 20 mins or until thermometer reads at least 160 in the thigh.

Ingredients for squash:

4-5 small summer squashes, chopped thickly
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp garlic salt

Fill a medium pot with about 1 inch or so of water, then add a steamer grate. Throw squash in and cut up the butter so bits of it are all around the squash. Sprinkle garlic salt over all, then cover and cook, steaming about 10 minutes.

Garlic Broiled Chicken and Two-Color Mashed Potatoes

I got the chicken recipe off allrecipes.com and it came out quite good. It's easier to cook dinner when there's someone home to watch the baby, but barring that, a well-stocked play yard is always helpful. This dinner serves 6, if you add a microwave vegetable, and only takes about 30 minutes to make.

Chicken Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
3 Tbsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp dried parsley
6 chicken drumsticks

Preheat broiler on high. Spray a glass baking dish with cooking spray. In a microwave safe bowl, mix the butter, garlic, soy sauce, pepper and parsley. Cook 1-2 minutes on high, or til butter melts. Arrange chicken in baking dish and cover with the spice mixture. Broil chicken for 20 minutes, or until chicken is firm and juices run clear.


Potato Ingredients:

2 white/russet potatoes, baked (I use a microwave since it's faster, just poke with a fork and cook 7-8 minutes on high and turned over once)
1 yam/sweet potato, baked
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk

Bake the potatoes then scoop the insides out of the skins and into a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mash all together with a potato masher. Make sure all is mixed well. Simple, but tasty! Add more butter if you wish.

Rosemary Garlic Chicken with Fried Rice

This recipe was a toss-up...I completely BS'd my way through what I thought was garlic chicken. I recommend preparing the oil infusion a few days ahead of time, though, to let the flavors truly infuse the olive oil. My husband didn't think the chicken had enough flavor to it.

Rosemary Garlic Oil Infusion:

1- 1 1/2 cups olive oil
3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic, halved or quartered
1/8 tsp garlic pepper
1/8 tsp sea salt

Drop all ingredients into a seal-able jar (I poured the oil in last) and shake, then let sit for a few days. You won't need this much just for this recipe, but if you add a little garlic salt to the oil mixture after you're done with this recipe, this will make a great bread dip for later.

Chicken:

1 1/2 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
seasoned salt
ground black pepper
1/4 cup rosemary garlic oil infusion

Rinse off meat and pat dry, then sprinkle both sides of each piece with a few shakes of seasoned salt and pepper. Pour oil into a large bowl. Rub spices in, then dip each thigh into the oil, coating both sides. Place meat on broiler rack in roasting pan and roast at 375 F for 35-40 minutes or until no longer pink inside.

Fried Rice:

1 1/2 cups Nishiki rice
2 cups water
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
2 sticks celery, sliced lengthwise then chopped fine
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
pinch of garlic powder and ground black pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce

Bring first two ingredients to a boil in a pot, then simmer for 15 minutes until rice has absorbed all water. Put peas and corn in bowl together with a few tablespoons of water and microwave for 2 minutes, then drain. Heat oil in a large Wok on medium heat, then add celery, onions, peas and corn.

Once these begin to wilt and become see-through, push to side of Wok and drop eggs into the space left, moving and frying until cooked.

Mix all together and sprinkle spices over all; keep frying. When rice is finished, add it to the Wok and add soy sauce, mixing well and cooking on low to heat all through.


This meal makes 2-4 servings; we only had 3 thighs but I could have easily made 4 with this recipe. There was enough rice to feed at least 5 or 6 people a serving.

And of course, if you get a fresh loaf of sourdough or French bread, you can rip bits off and dip in some of the leftover oil.