Sheet-Pan Supper : Balsamic Chicken with Baby Potatoes And Carrots

I love the ease of sheet pan suppers. Dorie's Sheet-Pan Supper is simple, easy, quick to put together, with just a few ingredients for flavour ; garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme, salt, black pepper, and balsamic vinegar. The main ingredients are, of course chicken, potatoes, onion and mushroom. But I could not find any brown or white button mushroom on the day that I plan to make this dish for dinner, so I grab a couple of carrots instead.

I did not use thyme, using only rosemary, from my garden pot. And instead of using only 4 garlic cloves, I use all the cloves from one large bulb.  And I have added an extra 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to the chicken. Mix everything and bake!

Bake for 1 hour at 220C, the chicken was perfectly done, and the potatoes and carrots are tender. We enjoyed this sheet-pan supper very much. Delicious! 

This post is linked to :
Cook the Book Fridays
Cookbook Countdown #50

Chickpea-Tahini Salad

Chickpea-Tahini Salad is the recipe selected at Cook The Book Fridays. This very easy and quick salad recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, Everyday Dorie.

I've used about less than 2 cups of cooked chickpeas which I had frozen a couple of months ago. Thawed them and refresh in simmering water for a few minutes and they are ready to be used. Time to use up my homemade tahini too.

To make the salad dressing, whisk the tahini with a little warm water until smooth, then stir in lemon zest and lemon juice, finely minced garlic, grated ginger, ground cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder (recipe uses cayenne powder), and salt to taste. I have omitted the honey.  To make the salad, stir into the dressing the following ingredients ; cooked or canned chickpeas, finely chopped red bell pepper, finely chopped red onion, chopped fresh cilantro and fresh dill. I did not have any dill, so I've used more cilantro. Stir everything well and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

I have added two finely chopped jalapenos to the salad. And a sprinkling of sumac over the salad just before serving.

I like this salad. It is very tasty and delicious! I would make this again with other veggies add in ; tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, olives.... 

Pasta With Cabbage, Winter Squash And Walnuts

This is the second pasta recipe selected this month at Cook The Book Fridays, from Everyday Dorie cookbook. 

The main ingredients are winter squash, green cabbage, dried cranberries, walnuts and pasta. Flavour from this pasta dish comes from cider vinegar. I've used regular pumpkin and napa cabbage.

The squash is first cooked in a little oil, season with salt and pepper until tender, then stir in the vinegar followed by the honey. Dish out and keep aside. The pasta is boiled in salted water, and the dried cranberries are thrown in during the last one minute of the pasta cooking time. Drain the pasta and retain a quarter cup or so of the cooking water. The cabbage is cooked in a tablespoon of oil, season with salt and pepper, with a tablespoon of cider vinegar, stir until it is absorbed. Pour in about a quarter cup of the pasta cooking water, stir for a minute, then add the pasta with the cranberries and a tablespoon of olive oil, Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, topped with walnuts and Parmesan.

We thought this pasta dish was just OK. The cranberries and walnuts added a nice touch and texture to the dish, but this is not in our list of favourite pasta dish. The family prefers the previous pasta we made two weeks ago, Pasta with Shrimp, Squash, Lemon and Lots Of Herbs, of which there's a request to make again.