Simple is good

First thought for tonight's supper was 'Not My Momma's Meatloaf'. An updated and tasty version using turkey and sun-dried tomatos but K has given up bread for lent so no bread crumbs! This will have to wait for another night. Instead we had roasted chicken w/veggies and roasted garlic mashed potatos. A nice substitute if I do say so myself.

The Roasted Chicken w/veggies comes from Ina Garten. I have made this in the past and it always turns out delicious. Although I tend to over do the veggies so will need to work on that in the future. We had our usual Sunday night guest over who once again provided a tasty salad.

Tonights Menu:

baby spinach salad

perfect roast chicken

roasted garlic mashed potatos

lemon and white chocolate pots de creme
Note - This dessert and receipe can be found on a previous blog here:
http://tandksundaysupper.blogspot.com/2011/03/success.html

baby spinach salad

Ingredients:

baby spinach

feta cheese

pine nuts

craisons

lunds basalmic vinaigrette

Toss all ingredients to taste in large bowl and top with dressing

perfect roast chicken
Receipt courtesy of Ina Garten.

Ingredients:

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
Olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

roasted garlic mashed potatos

K made the call to add goat cheese to this dish and it gave the potatos a little extra zing. Worth doing again, thanks K!

Ingedients:

2-3 lbs potatos

4 cloves roasted garlic

1-2 oz goat cheese

heavy cream

butter

directions:

Boil potatos until soft, about 15 minutes, drain well. Add heavy cream, butter and goat cheese to hot pan and stir. Add potatos back to pan along with the roasted garlic. Mash by hand or using a mixer until smooth. Add more cream to get desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.

roasted garlic

I use a terra cotta garlic roaster for this

Cut about 1/2 - 3/4 inch from top of garlic bulb, exposing cloves. Peel of some of the paper but keep glove intact. Roast at 425 degrees, stating with a cold oven, for 40-50 minutes.