Roasted Chicken with Sprouts and Potatoes

See ... if I call it that, it sounds so simple, right?

Real Recipe Name (or; How to Use Words to Impress Your Friends):

Oven Roasted Chicken with a White Wine Dijon Mushroom Sauce, served with Pan-Seared Pancetta Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Potato Gratin.

You can totally cook this.
Est. Cook Time: 2 hours
Serves 4

Just a few tricks to keep in mind when you're cooking this meal:

• Do not overcook your chicken! There is nothing more heinous than that overcooked, dry chicken where you need a glass of water to get down every bite. Its like the Saltine Challenge, only less fun because someone was trying to make something delicious. Crispy skin on the outside, juices running clear. The timing on this recipe worked perfectly, so just relax.
• Unless you are making a risotto, STIRRING IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. You don't win friends with salad, and you don't brown surfaces with stirring. Keep this in mind with the mushrooms and the sprouts.
• In a similar vein (and my family will tell you, this is the rule in my kitchen and hands will be smacked) - DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN! Those things have a light for a reason. You're letting out all the hot air! We're not heating the neighborhood here!
• Pancetta is (clumsily analogizing) Italian bacon. If you can't find Pancetta (and they have it at my Soviet Safeway, so I'd be surprised if you can't), feel free to use thick cut bacon. And while it is a truism that "Bacon makes everything better," so is it even more true that "Rendering bacon makes everything even more betterer." What? Betterer. Its totally a real word.
  
• With all cooking, coordination is key. I was able to do all three recipes simultaneously (more on this at the bottom). Most important trick to help you: prep everything you can before you start. This means chop your veggies, grate your cheese, measure out quantities if possible. Have everything set out in bowls, easy to toss into the mix and then rinse and place in the dishwasher. In an ideal OCD world, when dinner is done, there should only be one or two dishes left to go.
• Finally: make sure you have plenty of wine to "cook" with.
• Also: Apologies for the length of this one, but I was overambitious and wanted to write up an entire meal. Future posts will be handled as singular dishes. 

Oven Roasted Chicken in White Wine Dijon Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 split chicken breasts, bone-in, skin on. (Dry these with a towel, then let rest at room temperature for at least an hour)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Canola oil spray (or just the oil, but the spray is so much easier)
• 1/2 lb. cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbs. unsalted butter (do I really need to say unsalted here?)
• 1 tbs. dijon mustard

To Prepare:

1. Pour a glass of your dry white wine. Drink some of it. Don't you feel relaxed now?
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3. Salt and pepper your chicken breast to taste. Try a pinch of salt per chicken breast. Don't be lazy! Get both sides.
   
4. Spray your canola oil (or pour, whatever you want weirdo) all over the base of a Pyrex casserole dish large enough to hold both breasts. Place the breasts skin side down, making sure the breasts are not touching. Don't laugh at that last sentence. Grow up.
5. Place the chicken in the oven, uncovered. Let cook for 20 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR EVEN ONCE!
6. After 20 minutes, flip the chicken skin side up and return to the oven for another 25 minutes. Same rule about the oven door.
7. While the skin is crisping in the oven during this second 25 minutes, spray the bottom of a large pan with your canola. Add 1 tbs. of butter, and turn the heat to medium high. Once the butter has melted, add your mushrooms. Try your best to make sure all of the mushrooms are laying flat and do not overcrowd the pan (this will lead to soggy, spongy mushrooms). Once the mushrooms are all flat, leave the heat on medium high, uncovered, and WALK AWAY.
   
8. You forgot your wine. Grab your wine. Then walk away again.
9. 5 minutes later, come back into the kitchen. Look at that wooden spoon next to the mushrooms! Oh man, it would be so much fun to stir them right now, wouldn't it? NO! Walk away for another 5 minutes.
10. After 10 minutes total on a medium high heat, UNTOUCHED, the mushrooms should now be incredibly reduced in size and starting to turn golden brown on the bottom. I give you permission to flip one to check. If it looks good, now you may stir the mushrooms. Cook an additional 3-5 minutes, then remove from the pan to a separate bowl.
    
11. After the second 25 minutes, the chicken should be done. You'll know because, by using the oven light and looking through the window, you will see the skin is crispy and golden brown; the juices running clear.
    
    
    
12. After the chicken has finished in the oven, remove it from the Pyrex dish onto a separate plate. Cover the chicken lightly with aluminum foil (often called "tenting") so that heat can still escape slowly. This will allow the chicken to rest, which I like to imagine is an expungement of juices followed by a reabsorption of said juices. People who read books agree: resting is the key to a juicy, not dry finished chicken.
    
13. While the chicken is resting, take the pan you used to cook the mushrooms, and place it back on the stovetop with a medium high heat.
    
14. Once the pan is hot, we are going to deglaze it with the white wine. Deglazing is a fancypants word for using a liquid to help get those delicious bits of caramelized goodness off the bottom of the pan. Pour the white wine directly into the hot pan - you should get some steam and sizzle. Use a spoon or whisk to scrape the good bits off the bottom of the pan and into the bubbling white wine.
    
15. After a minute, add your chicken stock. Continue to scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan, and allow the sauce to simmer. Reduce heat to medium if you are getting splatter.
    
16. Add the remaining tbs. of butter, and stir to incorporate.
    
17. Add your Dijon mustard. Continuously stir to incorporate the mustard into the sauce.
    
18. OPTIONAL STEP: If you're feeling so inclined, add the juices from the pan the chicken was roasted in. You should feel so inclined. If you are not feeling so inclined, finish your glass of wine. Go back to Step 18.
19. Once the sauce has darkened and thickened, and the mustard is well-incorporated (no tiny mustard bits - you want a uniform consistency to the sauce), add the mushrooms. Stir.
    
20. Your finished sauce should look something like this:
    
21. Plate the chicken breast (but let's be honest - half of one of those things is more than enough for a reasonable human being) and cover with mushroomy goodness.

Pan-Seared Pancetta Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. of pancetta, diced (can substitute thick-cut bacon, cubed)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 lb. of fresh brussels sprouts
• 1 medium shallot, diced small

To Prepare:

1. You're probably out of wine right now. Go ahead and refill. Have a sip. You've earned it.
2. We're gonna render some pancetta now. The best way to describe this is: the pancetta will slowly cook at a low temperature in water, which will break down the fat into liquid form without crisping the actual pancetta itself. This fatty liquid will then impart pancetta flavor unto anything it touches. This is a good thing. So: place your pancetta in a large pan. Spread it out to give the pancetta room.
   
   
   
3. Turn the burner on to a low to medium low heat, and add the water. You do not want the water simmering, so adjust temperature accordingly. Let this process happen slowly, approximately 20 minutes.
   
4. In the meantime, let's talk about prepping your sprouts correctly. First step: cut off a little above the stem.
   
5. Next, remove any leaves that fall off without much effort.
   
6. This will leave you with a tightly packed, albeit small little guy. Much like asparagus, if trimmed properly, you're going to lose close to half of the mass of what you originally bought. Price of admission, folks. I find a sip of wine really lessens the sting.
   
7. Now, cut the little buggers in half, from top to stem.
   
8. Place these aside for now.
   
9. And now, let's get back to our rendered pancetta!. The pieces should be incredibly reduced in size, and there should be a decent amount of liquid and fat in the bottom of the pan. Use a slotted spoon to move the pancetta to a separate bowl.
   
10. Turn the pan up to a medium heat. Add the sprouts to the pan, face down. DO NOT STIR! You want to allow the flat side of the sprouts enough time to sear in the rendered pancetta fat, producing a golden brown crust on the flat side. Not only is this pretty, but its frickin delicious.
    
11. Once the sprouts have a good brown to them, I add about 2 tbs. of water to the pan to flash steam the sprouts. This will give them just a tiny bit of tendering without making them mushy. Nobody likes a mushy sprout.
12. After the water has cooked off, add in your pancetta as well as your shallots. 
    
13. Reduce heat to medium, and toss the pan (stir vigorously) once every minute or so.
    
14. I won't give an exact amount of time here: you'll know when this is done because the pancetta will be crispy and brownish red, and the shallots will be translucent-to-golden.
    
15. Serve on a plate, garnished with a glass of wine.

Here's a pretty picture! I was trying out my new camera and went overboard. Thanks for reading this far.

Crispy Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs waxy-skinned potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt
• pepper
• 2 cups half and half
• dash of nutmeg
• copious amounts of butter
• 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated

To Prepare:

1. Pour yourself a beverage. Preferably wine.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. (See note below about cooking all three dishes for one meal)
3. After washing your potatoes, bust out your mandolin. No, the one that slices things dummy. Note: I am kitchen spoiled. I own a mandolin. If you do not own a mandolin, either finish your wine and then go order one on Amazon for the next time you make this, or just make due with a good knife.

   

   Don't be jelly. Just spend your money on extravagant, single-use kitchen items instead of clothes or food.

4. Slice your potatoes on the mandolin (or with your good knife) to about 1/8th an inch thick. PLEASE WATCH YOUR FINGERS!
   
5. If you used the mandolin, enjoy the extra 45 minutes you just saved yourself by not having to slice the potatoes by hand like a sucker. One way to enjoy this time ... perhaps some wine?
   
6. Smash your cloves of garlic, and sprinkle with a healthy (read: unhealthy) dose of salt. Chop and smash those garlicky jerks into a salty garlic paste.
   
7. In a large pot, combine the potatoes, half and half, a dash of nutmeg (dash is kitchen-speak for "I dunno - a small amount? I know it when I see it"), garlic smash, 4 tbs. of butter (sliced into 1 tbs. pads). Slowly bring to a boil.
   
8. While waiting for the potatoes to boil, use a lot of butter to grease the inside of a casserole dish. Like, seriously, butter the heck out of that thing. We're talking Last Tango in Paris. Also use this time to grate your Gruyere.
   
   
   
9. Where's all the Gruyere? THERE IT IS!
   
10. Let the potatoes boil for about 8-10 minutes. The liquids should begin to thicken.
    
11. Pour your potato mixture into the incredibly buttered casserole dish.
    
12. Cover the potatoes with the Gruyere, spreading out evenly.
    
13. Place into the oven for approximately 25 minutes, USING ONLY THE LIGHT AND WINDOW TO CHECK ON IT. You will know this junk is done when it looks like this:
    
14. Let the gratin rest for at least 10 minutes so the sauce thickens further. Serve potatoes with a nice chicken breast and perhaps some brussels sprouts. Oh, and some wine. Definitely some wine.

    

    It's the same picture from before!

Tips for Coordinating as a Single Meal

• Prep everything you can before hand. This means chopping the sprouts, the pancetta, the shallots; grating the cheese; measuring out your liquids. This will make the whole process much easier.
• Clean your dishes as you cook. This is just to make your evening way more pleasant on the back end. Or you can just "soak" everything until the morning.
• Two different oven temperatures?! What's a boy to do?! So: start with the oven at 450 for the first half of cooking the chicken. Then, move the temperature to 400 in order to cook the chicken and the potatoes. At 400 degrees, both were finished around the 30 minute mark. Easy peasy.
• Read through the recipes and plot out when you will want to have each step completed. There are built in breaking points, such as when the pancetta is done but before you start searing the sprouts, or when the gratin is in the casserole dish but not yet in the oven. Use these as break points to catch up with your other tasks and get everything back on a unified schedule.
• I under-salted my gratin. I highly advise adding a little salt to the boil, to taste.
• I'm serious - good cooking requires ample amounts of butter and wine. Plus, by the time the meal is ready, you may not even care what it tastes like!

Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, recommendations, or compliments.