Sunday Supper: Spiced Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

What does Sunday Supper mean to you?

A time to slow down on Sunday before going back to the work week?  A time to make suppers that take a little longer to make?  A time for you family and friends to gather around the table to enjoy a wonderful meal, laughter, and good conversation?

They mean all those things.

Fall brings Sunday Suppers to mind.  I guess because it's time to turn the oven on again.  To cook low and slow, for roasting, braising, slow cooking. 

So I bring to you a new seres of posts especially tapered to enjoying the Sunday Supper.

First up:  Roasting

Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat such as your oven and is a slower method of cooking that browns the meat through carmelization. It's suited to larger cuts of meat as well as vegetables. In the oven the hot air circulates cooking all sides evenly producing tender juicy meats.

So let's make a spicy hearty meal.  Spiced Roasted Chicken and Vegetables.

This is a satisfying dish with the flavors of Morocco and India.  It will warm you with the depth of cinnamon and paprika.  It's really delicious, and I hope you enjoy it!


First make your spice rub by mixing together the paprika and cinnamon.

Cut up your vegetables.  A rough chop will do.  Place the vegetables on a rimmed cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Rub your chicken with the spice rub and place it on the pan with the vegetables. 

That's it.  Now let the oven do it's magic.  Place in a preheated 450 degree oven and cook for about 40 minutes until the chicken is done (juices run clear) and browned.

Transfer to a platter and enjoy with family and friends!

Hope you will try this for your next Sunday Supper.

Spice Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

serve 4

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp paprika

1  red onions, cut into 1/2-in. wedges

1  1 lb carrots, cut into sticks

1  1 lb red and yellow new potatoes, cut in ½ or quarters

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

4 bone-in chicken breasts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix cinnamon and paprika in a small bowl.

Cut vegetables.  Place on a large rimmed cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Rub chicken with spice rub.  Place chicken on the pan with the vegetables.

Cook for 40 minutes until chicken is done and browned.  Transfer to a platter and serve.

Food Truck Phenomenon

What a unique idea my company had.

They decided to celebrate Heritage Day by bringing in a gang of "food trucks" that serve foods of different ethnicity!

How awesome is that?

So I don't know if you seen them, but Food Trucks are the hottest craze.  Ever seen Food Truck Wars on the Food Network Channel?  Well they are actually gourmet food trucks that tour around the city to different locations during the day, and people come and eat!  One of the trucks visiting us was on that show...how exciting!  They also all gather in a certain spot and you can enjoy all of them at once!  So cool!


You can go online and track your favorite food truck around the city if you want...it's such a new craze!


Everyone at work was soooo hyped up about this.  They wanted to try something at every truck!  We had a 2 day food truck binge.  You won't believe what's coming...

Day 1


Here are the Food Trucks:


LudoTruck's Guerrilla Fried Chicken
(Guerrilla Fried Chicken, biscuits and slaw)

The Poutine Truck (Canadian Comfort Dish with French Fries and Gravy)

 more trucks... 

Great Balls on Tires (Meat Balls done every which 

way!)

The Great American Grill Truck

Tapaboy Truck (Filipino Breakfast Truck - meat, fried rice and egg dishes)

Barbie's Q (Rolin BBQ joint e.g., pulled pork 

sandwiches, ribs)

And the Lobsta Truck!  (Everything Lobster)












Look at this crowd....

OMG I forgot about this one....The Sprinkles Cupcake Truck!!! Look at this line...

Now the food...the FOOD!  YUM...excellent...each and every one of them!!! Take a look.

These are the Canadian Poutine Fries with Gravy....My friend bought these and I sneaked a taste...YUM!

Incrediballs....(sure were)

Ciao Balla....excellent! I had these...I want more.....now!

LudoTruck's Guerrilla Fried Chicken
look at that crust!

And for dessert Sprinkles cupcakes!  They actually sold out first and had to turn people away.


Vanilla and Lemon

So that was just day 1....can you believe it!  We were in food truck heaven.  So much so that we all went online and found that most trucks gather on Friday nights on a street in Granada Hills, Chatsworth street.  It's like a food fest every Friday.  If you have a chance and are in the area...you gotta go!

Heaven on wheels!

Happy Friday!

part 2 coming soon...

Cornmeal Biscuits

What's more southern than biscuits?

Cornbread?

I grew up eating both.  Biscuits and gravy for breakfast or with our dinner standing in for the usual dinner roll.  Mom always made cornbread when we had stews, or bean soup, or pork chops.  She usually made them in these cute little corn cob shape molds.  Remeber those?  Such fun. 

So why not combine the two great breads into a Cornmeal Biscuit?

This biscuit is light and fluffly like the usual ones however, you still get a slight cornbread texture from the cornmeal, and just a slight corn taste.  These are so delishhhh! 

I saw the recipe in one of my favorite magazines, Southern Living, and new I had to make them.  These are a biscuit that you probably would want to serve with dinner, but hey, you can be adventurous and have them for breakfast too.  Not to sure about the jelly though!

So here's how you make these little babies.

In a large bowl combine your flour and cornmeal.

Add your butter that you have cut up into pieces.  Using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut in the butter into the flour.  NOTE: It is important that you cut the butter into the flour until the butter is really fine.  You don't want large chunks left or else it will seep out of the dough during the baking process. 

Add your buttermilk and mix just until moistened. (ya don't want tough dough!)

Put the dough onto a floured board and knead two or three times.  Roll out in a disc until about 1/2" thick.  Cut biscuits using a 2" cookie cutter.

Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 14 minutes, or until golden brown.

So nice and hot and fluffy! 

Can't wait to eat another one!

Try one...

Cornmeal Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup butter, cut up
1 cups buttermilk
1/8 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine flour and cornmeal in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Note: Butter should be really finely crumbled.  Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 2 to 3 times.

Pat or roll dough to a 1/2-inch thickness, and cut with a 2-inch round cutter. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Brush the top of the biscuits with milk.

Bake at 425 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.