Comfort Food and Crazy Weather

Comfort Food and Crazy Weather

Sometimes the weather gets crazy. Like last week, when it was a bajillion degrees in So Cal. (Okay, in the 90s, but still.) Or this week, when the high will be below 70, even in the valleys. (WTF?) Whether it’s hot or cold, when I know the family will be together (a rarity lately), I tend to gravitate to comfort food. Below are two of my new comfort food favorites.

Photo from delectablz.com

Photo from delectablz.com

My go-to comfort food tends to be some sort of roasted chicken. And I found a terrific recipe at delectablz – Roast Chicken on French Bread one day, when I was feeling the need to do something special for the family but, you know, not work TOO hard.

Well, yum! This recipe has you using a whole chicken that you butterfly, but I’ve also made it using chicken thighs and trust me, it tastes just as yummy. One of the stars of this dish is the caramelized onions that go on top of the sliced French bread. The chicken goes on top of that, and when it comes out of the oven (smelling marvelous, I might add), the bottom layer becomes nice and rich and a tad gooey. SO good. With this dish, I put a Pinot Noir with it – the richness and gooeyness of the bottom layer demanded a red wine. (Don’t make this dish off my description. Truly, I’m leaving stuff out, so you need to check out the recipe!)

Once you’ve made the Roast Chicken on French Bread recipe, you need to try another one – Roast Chicken Thighs on a Bed of Potatoes. A Simply Recipes recipe (I love that place, and get a lot of my recipes from there.) This is a totally delish dish. Chicken thighs tend to be my go-to part of the bird – not too big (as breasts can be), and definitely on the less expensive side, but with more meat than drumsticks (which are great when you have little kids to feed – they love eating with their fingers). The first time I made this recipe, I didn’t have shallots, so I didn’t use any onions, and it was still fabulous.

This recipe also sends wonderful, yummy smells all through the house as it cooks – the

Simply Recipes photo

Simply Recipes photo

garlic tucked in between the chicken thighs add a great taste, too. THIS is the recipe that I made a couple of weeks ago and, since the hubs was going to be late for dinner, I made a plate for him to warm up. He later told me it was the single most wonderful meal he’s ever had in his life, lol! (I think he was just tired and appreciated being remembered.) With this dish, and the one below, I paired a lovely Chardonnay with it and was very pleased.

Then, of course, when you want to recreate the recipes but can’t find them, you do what I did last night – you mix the two. I had potatoes, and onions, and even French bread, but I didn’t remember what else went on the French bread recipe, and I couldn’t find my printed copy, AND I couldn’t find it when I googled it! So I caramelized the yellow onions (completely forgetting, once again, the shallots) and put them on top of the potatoes, and then the chicken and garlic – and voila, a fabulous and new dish!

So do check out delectablz and Simply Recipes, and let me know what you think.

)O(

What are some of your go-to comfort food recipes? I’m always on the lookout for something new!