Jamie Oliver's Crispy and Sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed New Potatoes and Tomatoes

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but it's worth the lateness. This was the second time I'd made this recipe and it doesn't disappoint. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half from start to finish. When I first discovered Jamie Oliver, I watched his Oliver's Twist TV show, and thought he was a weirdo. Now that I've watched more of his recent work, read a lot of his recipes, and seen his work with the Food Revolution, I still think he's a weirdo, but I have to admit he's got style. I think his combination of British food, plus healthy food, plus just his own personal taste makes for some of the most unique food I've ever seen. I totally recommend checking out his other stuff, and his philosophies on healthy eating and humane treatment of animals.

The herb Jamie Oliver uses in his original recipe is just fresh oregano, but I rarely have that on hand, so I've used Italian seasoning and parsley. And this time, I even added some leftover rosemary--fit it just right.

You can see Jamie's original recipe here; I haven't made changes very much at all. Mostly just to the seasonings.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1 3/4 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed

Kosher/sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8-12 boned chicken thighs, skin on (preferably free-range or organic)

Olive oil

Kosher salt and pepper

1 1/4 pounds cherry tomatoes (or smaller)

1 bunch of fresh oregano (or subsitute dried seasonings; oregano, thyme, Italian seasonings, rosemary)

More olive oil

Red wine vinegar

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

Boil the potatoes in salted water. Easy peasy.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut up your chicken thighs into 3 pieces and put them in a boil. Add salt, pepper, and oil, and use your hands to combine it all together.

Heat a large cast-iron frying pan over medium high heat. Ideally, this would be cast-iron so you could transfer it straight to the oven, but if you have to transfer to a baking dish, it won't be the end of the world. Place the chicken thighs skin side down in the pan to start. Cook for 10 minutes, tossing, until almost cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, poke all your tomatoes with a knife, and put them in a bowl covered with boiling water. Let sit for a few minutes, and drain. When they've cooled off, you should be able to squeeze/pinch off the skins. This step isn't necessary, but when the flesh is exposed during cooking, the sweetness adds to the cooking a lot more. Jamie says, "They will become lovely and sweet when cooked, and their intense flavor will infuse the potatoes." How can you pass that up?

"Bash" the oregano Jamie style (or just mince it). Drain your potatoes and lightly crush each one with tongs or your thumb (burns your thumb though). Combine the potatoes, chicken and tomatoes in the cast-iron pan, or a baking dish. Coat with oil, seasonings, and red wine vinegar. Jamie says to spread everything out into one layer, but I've done it both ways--you can heap it all up into two layers, or one; it's good both ways. Bake for 40 minutes.

Creamy Roasted Tomato and Shrimp Pasta

Trevor and I have made this simple pasta a few times now, and I think it's turned into one of my favorites. It's pretty easy, but feels fancy--that's the best kind of pasta :)

WHAT YOU NEED:
for roasted tomatoes
5 roma tomatoes
2-3 teaspoons minced garlic
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
for pasta
1 pound pasta (spaghetti, penne, rotini, whatever floats your boat)
1 tablespoon table salt
for sauce
1/2 pound shrimp--deveined and peeled
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (or crushed)
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 bay leaf
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
seasonings/salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1/2 cup cream

WHAT YOU DO:

First things first, you have to get your tomatoes roasting. You'll want them roasting the entire time you're getting everything else ready. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Quarter 5 roma tomatoes, then cut those quarters in half. You can de-seed them if you don't like the seeds and juices, but I think they add good flavor to the pasta sauce later. Place the tomatoes on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil (olive or vegetable works), and top with minced garlic, salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix it all together, then spread it out evenly. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes while you do the rest, turning them with a spatula once halfway through. (If, by the time you're done with the pasta, your tomatoes aren't as roasted as you want them to be, turn the oven up to 500 or even broil for a few minutes to get the amount of char/roast you want. Watch carefully.)

At this point, prep your shrimp, if they aren't already. They need to be defrosted, deveined, and peeled. 

Next, start a large pot of water boiling, with about a tablespoon of regular table salt (no need to waste kosher salt on boiling water). Your water should taste like sea salt--this will make your noodles actually taste like noodles later on. Cook your noodles to al dente.

While the noodles are cooking, heat some oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. Add garlic and shrimp, season with salt and pepper, and saute quickly. Once the shrimps have JUST reached pink all the way through, turn down the heat to medium low. If using crushed tomatoes, pour them straight into the pan now. If using diced tomatoes, blend them up really quick with an immersion blender, food processor, or blender (you could even crush them with a fork) before adding to the shrimp. I like using the diced tomatoes because I can control how chunky my tomatoes are, depending on my mood.

Season the tomato sauce with italian seasoning (or oregano and thyme to your taste), sage, parsley, ground red pepper, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Taste the sauce and use your judgement. The sauce is going to be tamed by adding cream later, so you want it to taste fairly strong. To me, this sauce whispers slightly of something creole or cajun with the thyme and shrimp, so feel free to spice it up. It doesn't need to be HOT spicy to be spiced; go easy on the red pepper if you don't want a burn. Add the sugar or honey to taste.

(Keep an eye on your pasta. Drain the noodles when they're ready, and return them to the pot.)


Add 1/2 cup of any cream of your choice to the tomato sauce. I use whipping cream because, well, it will be the best. But half-and-half or 2% would work if you want to go lighter. It just won't be as creamy. Also be careful using lower fat creams/milks because they curdle when heated too quickly. Make sure to turn your heat down and slowly bring the sauce back up to temperature. Feel free to increase or decrease the amount of cream based on what you prefer. Re-season till it's how you want it to taste.


Combine the sauce with the noodles, and add your roasted tomatoes to the pot. Gently combine so you don't destroy all the roasted tomatoes.