Strawberries Romanov

This recipe sounds like it's going to be disgusting, but it's actually pretty awesome. And simple. In fact, it's not a really a recipe, just a combination of three ingredients.

Cut up strawberries and place them in a bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, combine sour cream with brown sugar. I don't have exact measurements for you here -- I just keep tasting the combo until it is pretty sweet and tangy. Then mix it in with the strawberries and serve.

Pretty much the perfect spring/summer light dessert. 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread

I keep stopping on page 105 of My Bread by Jim Lahey to look at the beautiful pictures of peanut butter and jelly bread, so I finally decided to make it.

The dough starts out similar to any other bread dough, except that before adding the cool water to the flour/salt/yeast mixture, you blend the water with peanut butter to give the bread a subtle peanut taste. Also, throw a little egg in there. And mix in some whole peanuts (I roasted my own.) Then let is rise for about 12 hours.

Once the bread has gone through the first rise, stretch the dough out into a rectangle.

Spread jelly (I chose raspberry preserves, because that's the best kind there is) over the bread, leaving a little room on each side.

Chop some peanuts and place them in the bottom of a loaf pan, reserving half to put on the top of the dough.

Now comes the tricky part -- fold the dough into thirds, crimp the ends together so that no jelly leaks out during the cooking process, and place the dough packet seam side down into the loaf pan. Scatter the rest of the nuts over the top of the dough and set to rise for another hour.

This goes in the oven for about an hour, and makes your house smell like a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which is also what it tastes like.

Eat this. It's delicious.

Nicoise Chicken with Tomatoes and Black Olives (p. 409) and Gratin or Tian of Potatoes (p. 332)

I've decided I love meat with olives. So good. Nicoise Chicken with Tomatoes and Black Olives is no exception. In a skillet, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil. (I actually used green onions today, because I had them in my CSA box and needed to use them up before tomorrow, when my next box comes. It's a lot to keep up with. Anyway, my very basic 2-second long google search told me green onions wold be fine, so there you go.) Once the onions are soft and beginning to brown, add parsley and thyme before removing form the hear.

While these are sautéing, trim the fat and skin away from the chicken. I normally only cook with chicken breasts, but the recipe called for breasts and legs, so I prepped both. These are covered in salt and pepper, put into a separate pan with more olive oil, and browned on each side -- I let them go for about 8 minutes per side.

In the mean time, peel and chop several tomatoes and add them to the chicken dish along with some white wine. These will boil down together to create a somewhat thick sauce that the chicken continues to cook in. Once the chicken is cooked in the sauce (mine took a little more than twenty minutes), add the onion mixture along with olives and lemon juice. Cook for just about five more minutes and then serve.

With this dish, I prepared Gratin or Tian of Potatoes, which is the Provencal version of potatoes au gratin. The potatoes are peeled and cut into very thin slices, and then tossed with olive oil and garlic.

They are spread into a gratin dish and salted and peppered (in my case generously.) Pour some simmering stock over them and toss the whole thing in the oven for a good long while, until the potatoes are beginning to brown.

Since I was again needing to use up some CSA veggies, I replaced regular potatoes with sweet potatoes. Very un-Mediterranean, but whatevs.

The chicken was really good. Neither of us has tried the legs yet (because they're huge), but the breast was well cooked and the sauce was very flavorful. The green onions worked out really well.

I also really enjoyed the sweet potatoes, maybe even more than I would have if they'd been regular potatoes. The flavors of the garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper were really nice with the sweeter potato. Matt doesn't love sweet potatoes, so I think he would have preferred the regular recipe.

lemon -- $.69

chicken -- $7.59

tomatoes -- $6.19

green onions -- $2.75 (CSA prorated cost)

olives -- $2.00

Total Cost of Nicoise Chicken with Tomatoes and Black Olives: $19.22 (with at least three servings left)

sweet potatoes -- $2.75 (CSA prorated cost)

Total Cost of Gratin or Tian of Potatoes: $2.75 (with at least four servings left)