Daddy's Gone Dinner

When Daddy's away, our taste buds can play! I was at the library recently paying another overdue book fine when I found a cookbook that had been recommended on another blog...

I checked it out, brought it home and hid it on the shelves as per my "new cookbook" protocol made necessary by my Man's aversion to new food.  When I had a chance to look through this very simple and "chatty" cookbook which claims to help the reader "eat in style on a bare bones budget," I found many recipes worth trying.  Unfortunately, before I got a chance to try any of the new dishes, the Poor Girl Gourmet was over due.  Being a reliable library patron, I returned the book, paid the fine, and begged to check it out again.  Someone else on the library food-chain had already reserved it, so I made a copy of the recipe I most wanted to try, and returned home with two black and white copies in my hand.  

Already, I'd put more work into this meal than the actual recipe entailed.  I think I'd paid more library fines than the cost of the ingredients too!  The only other thing I needed, was an unbiased panel of eaters to test the new meal.  This detail worked itself out as my Man left town for a few days.  On the first night of his absence, we dined on salad and Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls.  A well balanced meal if ever there was one!

The next night we dined on Roasted Chicken with Olives, the very simple, sophisticated-tasting recipe below:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

You will need...

Kosher salt, black pepper, olive oil, Calamata olives, and thyme and ...

...chicken thighs.  

Simply coat with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt, black pepper and thyme 

on both sides of each thigh.

Then tuck a few bunches of these loverly olives in the empty spaces in the foil-lined casserole dish (which made clean-up a snap) and place in the oven for 50-60 minutes (until juices run clear) until your home smells so wonderful you just can't stand it for another minute!

Fresh from the oven...

The Calamata olives were a new ingredient to us and we found them a bit sour until they were baked in the chicken juices!  Then they became a perfect compliment to the chicken and to the polenta that we served alongside.  To round out our Daddy's gone theme, we steamed a vegetable mix of broccoli, carrots and cauliflower, most of which are on his "Scrunch-up-the-nose-just-thinking-about-'em" list! 

Note: Cole thought it might be a good idea next time to stuff the olives under the skin of the chicken so that more of the olive flavor would get into the chicken.  We all agreed that we liked this very easy recipe. The awarding of the "DO OVER" label will have to wait until Daddy returns.  In the meantime, I'm requesting the cookbook again from the library so that we can test some more easy, inexpensive meals!

Recipe:

4 chicken legs &/or thighs

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

1/4 pound good-quality olives, such as Calamata or 

Castelvetrano, unpitted (ours were pitted)