Mommas Pearls Café - Roasted Herb & His Girls

ROASTED HERB (aka “CHICKEN BONES”) & HIS GIRLS (VEGES)

By: Cynthia Litman

Meet Herb & his Vege Girlfriends

A country table is only comforting if its welcoming and shared with great company. Fall brings me to my roots and my mom’s favorite dish to make is chicken. She always felt like having “chicken tonight” and makes it a million different ways.  I’ve since found my groove with the versatile bird as well. It’s considered one of the “light” meats that even my healthiest of Institute of Integrative Nutrition friends approve of. My daughter loves her “chicken bones” and licks her lips at the very mention of it being on the menu.  The fall veges are just a bonus to complete the meal and add some pure earthy harvest to your roasted rustic plate.

The starting base of the marinade for both dishes are the same (up to a point) so you can work on both bowls at once and as a busy working momma, saving time is key. 

Preheat oven to 350

FOR HERB, the Hottest Chicken On The Block

Family Pack of Drum Sticks (happy organic hormone, cage & anti-biotic free preferred, look for sales and freeze)

Take the pack out and let Herb chill out at room temperature before getting busy.

Rinse & Line Herbs bones on a meat only cutting board, pat em dry.

Salt em up – Kosher Salt first, then a round of Sea Salt before going into the oven. If you have crazy salt go nuts.

Give a good sprinkle of Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Tumeric, Paprika, Black Pepper & White Pepper on BOTH SIDES

Take a Mixing Bowl (I use stainless steel for cleanliness)

Add a Swirl of EVOO (or other healthy oil)

½ TBLSPN Crushed Garlic (love Trader Joes jarred crushed garlic)

*A word on garlic – Twilight fans beware, I love the stuff & use tons of it

1 Fresh Garlic Clove smashed with Sea Salt (a Rachel Ray trick)

3 Huge Sage Leaves (6 small ones) torn up

½ Sprig of Rosemary

1 Sprig Thyme

* A word on herbs – fresh is best, dried is fine

¼ Orange Squeezed with Zest

Small chunk of raw Ginger Grated

(NOTE: I use the above Herb base for almost every meat, poultry & fish)

1 Apple skinned, cored & cubed

OPTIONAL MIX A LOT: Add a Glob (1/3 cup total) of Tamari, Balsamic Vinegar, SOY VEY (Melissa introduced me to this delish sauce) & Honey.

Other Options for sweetness: BBQ Sauce, Duck Sauce.

Trial & Error: I’ve used a combo of one or all of the above so see what you have and try it out.

*Measurement Note - I cook on feel & loathe anything math related so everything is approximate 

Substitution - If you have a person in your family who has high blood pressure & can’t have salt, lose it & add celery to the wet mix.

Marry Herb

Use Tongs & place chicken in your bowl & get it sauced up.

If you can let HERB marinate with his dressing, let him get his groove on.

Place in Glass Rectangular Pan (or BBQ). If you are messy like me, line it with tin foil.

*SAVE SOME SAUCE: LEAVE SOME OF THE SAUCE TO BRUSH ON WHILE HERB IS COOKING

Takes a little over an hour to cook, brush sauce at 20 minutes & 40 minutes.  Make sure the juices run clear & inside is white (not raw pink) before serving.

Take juice from pan lift the foil & serve it (with apple chunks) as the gravy.

ROASTED VEGES (aka Herb's Girls)

Use a Vege Mixing Bowl

Add a Swirl of EVOO

1 Clove Garlic (smashed like above if you so prefer)

½ Sprig of Rosemary

2 Large Sage Leaves

1 Sprig of Thyme

Himalayan Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Garlic Powder

Handful (½ cup-ish) Butternut Squash

Handful Fingerling Potatoes – Mixed Colors (cut chunky style)

½ Sweet Potato (peeled)

¼ Onion (Red or White) – chunky quarters

Note: What I missed but wish I had on hand to add Beets & Parsnip

Mix it up

Cook in Cast Iron pan if you have it, I tried something I haven’t yet ventured which was using the Cast Iron pan on the stove top first & then placing in the oven to roasting. Usually I’ll just put the veges with the chicken and cook em all in one space (waste not want not!!).

OPTIONAL: Sautee with Butter & Sage in pan

BREAD: If you have bread you can use the end trails of the vege mixing bowl to top your bread (you like that one!!!)

Little Sous Chefs: How to involve the kids

Give the kids a not so sharp knife and let them peel & cut the Veges.

*Fun Note: As this vege ensemble calls for them “Chunky” you can sing Moto Moto’s song “I like em big, I like em Chunky” from Madagascar :)

Let em rip the Herbs

Sprinkle the Dry Ingredients, pour it in their hands first (just make sure they wash it off)

Squeeze the Orange

Grate the Ginger

Tossing the Veges into the Mixing Bowl is amazingly fun

Mix the Veges In their Bowl & spill them in the pan

If you have a brush, let your kids then brush some of the sauce on the chicken while its in the pan.

Don’t recommend letting them handle the onions or garlic, they cry.

Copyright © 2012 Cynthia Litman d/b/a Tigris Imprints. All Rights Reserved.