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Roast Chicken with Sautéed Onions and Peppers

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Roasted Chicken with Sautéed Onions and Peppers

Blast from the past.

Liz and I recently took a drive down memory lane on our food blog. This post from last November stood out for us because we love this meal and the story brought back great memories of when we setup Michael’s music room. This space for Michael has been such a hit and it’s been a source of inspiration for him. His music, editing, writing and social media skills have improved dramatically and we’re so proud of him!

If you’ve been following our blog for a while now, this post may be familiar. But if you’re a more recent follower, this will be new to you. Whether it’s your first time or not, we hope you enjoy this recipe and story as much as we do.

We invite you down memory lane…

Time flies!

You know those days and weeks that fly by in a blink? We all have them, I’m sure. Well the last couple of weeks have felt like that for us. I mean…where did November go? I barely saw it arrive. I think I blinked, and poof, it disappeared. And…I am nowhere near ready for the holidays.

The Music Room.

On a far less whiny note, our eldest son’s music room is painted and the guitars are up on their hooks (and the drum set is setup–oh yea me!). The room actually looks really nice and he’s thrilled with his fresh new space where he can get lost for hours playing guitar.

Thank goodness we ended up calling Antonio, our painter friend, or else that room would not have been finished until December 2016…maybe….and it certainly wouldn’t have turned out as nice.

Focusing on your true passion!

Getting the job done by someone else gave us the chance to focus on what we’re better at doing (three guesses…and it’s not home renovations). So here’s how we demonstrate our creativity…and our love of poultry. This isn’t exactly a quick weeknight meal, but on this night, Nelson had the chance to get started on supper earlier than normal, so this roast chicken with sautéed peppers and onion was quite a nice treat.

The right call…

Here’s to making the right call at the right time and maintaining some sanity in our hectic lives. Do what you love (for us, that’s not painting), and eat well, friends.

Roasted Chicken with Sautéed Onions and Peppers

Roast Chicken with Sautéed Onions and Peppers
 
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Whether you're entertaining guests or making dinner for your own family, this roast chicken recipe is easy to make and so delicious.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Canadian
Serves: 8 - 12 servings
Ingredients
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 2 red bell peppers, diced
  • 2 green bell peppers, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1½ cups diced tomatoes
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 2 whole raw chickens, cut in quarters
Instructions
  1. Pre heat oven to 325 ºF
  2. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a large frying pan on medium high.
  3. Add onions and sauté for 4 minutes.
  4. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minutes.
  5. Add green and red peppers.
  6. Add 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, diced tomatoes and white wine.
  7. Stir all the ingredients, cover and reduce heat to medium.
  8. Simmer for 15 minutes, uncover and set aside.
  9. Line a large roasting pan with aluminum foil.
  10. Place the pieces of chicken in the roasting pan.
  11. Baste chicken pieces with remaining olive oil.
  12. Sprinkle 1½ tsp of salt and ½ tsp of black pepper evenly over the chicken pieces.
  13. Using a large serving spoon, scoop a spoonful of the onion and pepper mix over each piece of chicken until all pieces are covered. Divide any remaining peppers over the chicken equally.
  14. Place the pan in the oven on the middle rack.
  15. Cook for 50 minutes. Do not open the oven door.
  16. Raise the heat to 375 ºF and let cook for another 20 minutes. Do not open the oven door.
  17. Change the oven setting to broil and set the temperature to 450 ºF.
  18. Let the chicken cook for another 8 minutes.
  19. Using a thermometer in the thickest past of the meat, check that the internal temperature is 165°F (74°C)
  20. Shut off the stove and carefully remove the roasting pan.
  21. Serve chicken hot with your favourite side dish. Enjoy!

 

One-Dish Baked Chicken Thighs with Rice

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One Dish Baked Chicken Thighs with Rice

Happy middle of January! Is it just me or are we moving through this winter a little too quickly? Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be happy when it’s time to store the winter clothes and boots! It’s just that as I get older, I’m in less of a rush for time to fly by… and it does seem to be going by faster and faster with each passing year. 🙁

The nicest thing about winter for me (in addition to tobogganing and a good snowball fight) is that we get to cook and eat all those comforting warm and cozy meals. The problem with warm and cozy meals is that they often require multiple pots and pans that we’re really not in the mood to wash after a relaxing dinner. I don’t mind this as much on weekends when I have time, but weeknight meals need to be quick and low maintenance so that we can get on with all the other chores, homework and a little down-time.

If you’ve browsed our food blog before, you might have seen a very similar recipe “Quick Weeknight Baked Chicken Thighs“. Today’s post is a modification of that same recipe. This time we included the rice with the chicken, all in one dish. This is handy when you’re trying to make clean-up time quick! The other benefit is that the spices on the chicken actually help flavour the rice. No complaints there… am I right? The cooking time for this recipe is longer than the other baked chicken thighs recipe we posted previously, because in this one-dish recipe the chicken cooks in liquid; however, the beauty of it is that you quickly prep the one dish, throw it the oven and wait for your finished meal. That’s it! Nothing else to wash, no worrying about getting your timing just right on two different dishes, nada! What a beautiful thing.

Let us know your thoughts on this recipe and what, if any modifications you did to it. We’re always looking for great ideas.

One Dish Baked Chicken Thighs with Rice

One Dish Baked Chicken Thighs with Rice
 
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Sometimes you just want to cook a weekday meal without all the mess! This chicken thighs with rice recipe is that meal! Less mess... lots of flavour!
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: North American
Serves: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 12 boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1.5 tsp dried oregano leaves
  • 4 tsp garlic powder
  • 3 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground thyme
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 cups Italian rice (white long grain)
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 3 tbs cold butter, cut into thin slivers
  • Cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 °F.
  2. Pour the olive oil in a small bowl (the size of a soup bowl). Set aside.
  3. In a medium size bowl, mix together the oregano, garlic powder, paprika, thyme, salt and black pepper. Set aside.
  4. Spray the inside of a tall rimmed large baking dish with the cooking spray.
  5. Add the rice and soy sauce.
  6. Stir the rice content to evenly distribute it and mix the soy sauce into the broth.
  7. Place the butter slivers in the baking dish.
  8. Place the bowls with the spice mix and the bowl with the oil near the baking dish.
  9. Lightly dip top of each chicken thigh in olive oil and then press into the spice mix to coat the top.
  10. Place each coated chicken thigh in the baking dish, over the rice and in the broth until all are coated.
  11. Place the baking dish in the oven uncovered on the middle rack.
  12. Bake for 25 minutes.
  13. Open the oven door and carefully run a spoon through the rice and around the chicken pieces. This will distribute the liquid so the rice can keep cooking evenly.
  14. Close the oven door and continue to bake for 20 minutes.
  15. Open the oven door and taste/test the rice. If it's fully cooked, remove the baking dish from the oven and serve. Depending on your oven, you may need to cook the rice for another 5 minutes or so. Once the rice is fully cooked, the chicken will also be ready.
Notes
You're also welcome to use your favourite store-bought spice mix if you want to save a little time.

 

Quick Pesto Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

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Quick Pesto Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried TomatoesThe holidays are in full swing around here and there’s been food, food, and more food…but we’re not complaining. We appreciate all the goodness that surrounds us–and fortunately food is a part of that.

Earlier today Nelson made a delicious homemade pesto. He hadn’t even fully planned what he was going to do with it, although he had a couple of perfect ideas in mind. Would it be pizza or pasta? Both options received my full and eager approval. mmmmm

Spoiler alert!! Nelson went with pasta. He used all my favourites–pesto, grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, penne, fresh Parmesan cheese–tell me you’re not salivating right now! I am (which says a lot about me…and this dish, since I just finished eating). We might have gone with a fettuccine noodle but our kids are partial to penne so we went with that.

The pesto was the perfect consistency and it looked so nice in this dish. We’ve had pasta with pesto in some restaurants where the pesto has way too much oil and were  left with a lot of oil on our plates. That’s not our preference, so Nelson made this just the way we like it.

Have pesto? Use it for goodness sake! Eat pasta, eat pizza, eat well friends!

Quick Pesto Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Quick Pesto Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
 
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This pesto chicken pasta recipe is one of our favourite quick meals. It's easy to make on a weeknight and tastes delicious with the sun-dried tomatoes.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
  • 4 cups penne regate
  • 1 tsp coarse salt for boiling with the pasta
  • ¼ cup of the cooked pasta water.
  • 3 oz (85 g) sun-dried tomatoes (preserved in oil)
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs oil from the sun-dried tomatoes jar
  • 1.3 lbs (.6 kg) boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 5 tbs fresh basil pesto (see our recipe made with a mortar and pestle)
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • Fresh basil and shaved parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil to top the dish
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta with 1 tsp salt to al dente (per package instructions).
  2. Save ¼ cup of the pasta water.
  3. Drain the pasta and set aside.
  4. Pat down the chicken breasts with paper towel to remove moisture.
  5. Cut the chicken into strips and place them into a medium size bowl.
  6. Add the salt and pepper to the chicken strips and mix well.
  7. Heat the olive oil and sun-dried tomato oil in a large pan on medium high.
  8. Add the chicken strips and brown them. This takes around 4 to 5 minutes depending on the heat of your cook top.
  9. Reduce the temperature to medium heat.
  10. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and stir for about a minute.
  11. Loosen the pasta and add it to the pan.
  12. Add the pesto and stir well to make sure everything is coated.
  13. Add the ¼ cup pasta water and stir again.
  14. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes.
  15. Uncover and serve immediately, topped with basil leaves, freshly shaved parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!
Notes
Quality ingredients always a make a positive difference. We used quality penne imported from Italy.

 

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