Sometimes just trying to use things up makes for the best meals. I had two
five-pound bags of russet potatoes (I wanted to use one of them) and
miscellaneous frozen chicken pieces. Didn't do anything special, just roasted
the chicken and made mashed potatoes, but the blend of flavors was perfect. I'm
trying to remember this from Sunday night...
Boiled the potatoes in a big pot (obviously) for about an hour. Threw the chicken in the microwave to defrost at the same time.
Meanwhile, I made a glaze for the chicken with honey (1/3 cup? who knows), about half of one of those Hidden Valley ranch seasoning packets, and a SPLASH of balsamic vinegar just to cut the sweetness a bit.
Set the oven to 450. Put the chicken in a disposable roasting pan and brushed it with the glaze. I also roughly chopped the half a sweet onion I had and nestled that in between the chicken pieces. More vegetables in the roasting pan would've been nice.
Ended up roasting for about 40 minutes, then turning the chicken and glazing the underside before putting back in for another 20 minutes or so.
For dipping sauce, I'll normally reserve some glaze, but there wasn't enough honey. My next thought was a balsamic vinegar reduction, but as usual my patience failed me. It was still a good sauce, sharp but fruity-sweet, just a little thin. I just heated some balsamic, and added a little more of the ranch seasoning along with some brown sugar and probably garlic salt, because I put garlic salt on everything. Oh, and a tbsp of butter swirled in there for thickening.
When the potatoes had cooled to a non-hazardous level, I peeled them halfway; I dig some skin in mine. Mashed them with 2 tbsp butter and maybe 1/2 cup milk. More garlic salt here, along with a couple pinches of dried tarragon and an almost-unnoticeable amount of black pepper. I actually added the potatoes to the roasting pan for about the last 10 minutes, now that I think about it.
Boiled the potatoes in a big pot (obviously) for about an hour. Threw the chicken in the microwave to defrost at the same time.
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Meanwhile, I made a glaze for the chicken with honey (1/3 cup? who knows), about half of one of those Hidden Valley ranch seasoning packets, and a SPLASH of balsamic vinegar just to cut the sweetness a bit.
Set the oven to 450. Put the chicken in a disposable roasting pan and brushed it with the glaze. I also roughly chopped the half a sweet onion I had and nestled that in between the chicken pieces. More vegetables in the roasting pan would've been nice.
Ended up roasting for about 40 minutes, then turning the chicken and glazing the underside before putting back in for another 20 minutes or so.
For dipping sauce, I'll normally reserve some glaze, but there wasn't enough honey. My next thought was a balsamic vinegar reduction, but as usual my patience failed me. It was still a good sauce, sharp but fruity-sweet, just a little thin. I just heated some balsamic, and added a little more of the ranch seasoning along with some brown sugar and probably garlic salt, because I put garlic salt on everything. Oh, and a tbsp of butter swirled in there for thickening.
When the potatoes had cooled to a non-hazardous level, I peeled them halfway; I dig some skin in mine. Mashed them with 2 tbsp butter and maybe 1/2 cup milk. More garlic salt here, along with a couple pinches of dried tarragon and an almost-unnoticeable amount of black pepper. I actually added the potatoes to the roasting pan for about the last 10 minutes, now that I think about it.