Creamy Spaghetti w/ Leeks

I’ve been obsessed with leeks. Literally. Every time I go to the grocery store, I find some excuse to get one. My attitude towards life right now is: “Put a leek on it.” (Portlandia anyone?) So when my F&W daily email popped into my inbox with the subject line “Creamy One-Pot Spaghetti with Leeks,” and I saw that there was ONLY ONE STEP in the directions, I knew I had to test this recipe. Like. Now. Not even one ingredient being an anchovy could deter me from the task. It turned out amazing (anchovy and all), and just as pretty as the photo on their site, if I do say so myself. I highly recommend this if you need a quick meal for a week night, especially if you’re doing some entertaining. Five Stars.

Perogis

If you like cheese, potatoes, and bread, this one is for you.

I’m always up for a challenge. The most complicated recipe I’ve ever taken a stab at was beef bourguignon from Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking. I was visiting home over Christmas break and my mom *ahem, I mean Santa* gifted me the book. The famous dish looked so complicated I just had to give to give it a try. Of course it took about 5 hours to concoct, but oh was it worth it. It was melt-in-your-mouth good, which I was thankful for due to the number of hours we spent making it.

Three years later, enter the perogi. I read about them in a magazine and they immediately intimidated me, as all recipes involving home made dough do. As expected, the call of warm, cheesy potatoes snuggled up inside fried dough was too much to resist. Here is my first attempt at the perogie. Next time I have a few hours of my life to spare before some sort of get together, I think I’ll make these again.

Oven Roasted Chicken & Rosemary Dijon Pan Sauce

Since fond, and the wordplay therein, is the inspiration of this blog, I thought it appropriate to kick it off with a recipe that uses these little morsels. There are so many ways to cook chicken, but my favorite way is to bake it whole. First of all, it's a lot cheaper, secondly you get to save the bones for broth, and thirdly, you get your choice of which part to eat!

Remember to check the internal temperature of the chicken. A well cooked chicken should be 165° F.

Ingredients

1 3-4lb whole chicken, innards removed and discarded
1-2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
3 sprigs rosemary
3 sprigs thyme
1 lemon
 1 Shallot, minced
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup low sodium chicken broth
1 t chopped thyme
1 t chopped rosemary
1-2 T butter (depending on how rich you want your sauce to be)
1 t dijon mustard

To Make Chicken

1. Place oven-safe skillet in middle rack of oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
2. Slice ½ of lemon into thin slices.
3. Pat chicken dry and rub surface and cavity with olive oil, salt, & pepper.
4. Place whole sprigs of rosemary, thyme, & lemon slices in cavity of chicken.
5. Squeeze the rest of the lemon juice over the bird.
6. When oven has preheated place chicken breast side up in your skillet and bake for 25-30 minutes, until breast registers at 120 degrees.
7. Turn oven off and leave chicken in oven for another 25-30 minutes, until the breast registers at 165 degrees.
8. Remove chicken from skillet and place on cutting board. Let sit for 20 minutes while making the sauce & then carve

For Pan Sauce

1. There should be a good amount of fat and juices in your pan. If there isn’t for some reason (maybe your chicken was super into fitness and had a low BMI) add a tablespoon or so of oil to the pan.
2. Place the skillet that you roasted the chicken in on stovetop over medium high heat. When hot, add minced shallots and cook until they soften, making sure to stir them frequently.
3. Add in your ½ cup of dry white wine and reduce (stirring frequently) by half. This process is called deglazing, and is when all the flavor from the fond is broken up into the sauce. If your gramin’ (instagraming…duh) your process this is where the #yum #foodporn #foodie etc…comes in.
4. After the white wine is reduced, add in ½ cup chicken broth and stir until reduced by ½ again.
5. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, rosemary, thyme, & dijon.
6. Carve the bird, serve, and top with the delicious fondy magnificence that you just created with your own two hands.

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