Peasant food

Tonight, as with every Sunday night nowadays, I am home alone. Josh is working his overnight shift, which leaves me to consider a meal for one.

In previous weeks, I would buy a frozen dinner at the grocery store, peel back the plastic to cook it, and eat it right out of the black plastic carton it was frozen in. It’s not that surprising that I got sick of such fare quickly.

I decided to try something different tonight, and make my own meal for one. My inspiration was a Jaimie Oliver recipe from his new book, “Cook with Jaimie” (a very worthy read, by the way). My version is as follows:

Chicken with Asparagus, Tomatoes, & Lemon

• 1 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast
• 8 stalks of asparagus, trimmed
  
• 1 small tomato cut into chunks, preferably of the type that are sold on the vine
• 1 lemon
• 2 stalks of rosemary
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

You’ll need aluminum foil for this project, or a small metal ovenproof pan (I prefer the foil). Using two sheets of foil to make a double layer, form the foil into a makeshift pan with sides about 2 inches high. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small bowl, place the asparagus stalks and the tomato chunks. Drizzle with olive oil to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste (preferably fresh ground pepper and salt). Toss to combine. Tear the leaves off one of the rosemary stalks and toss them into the veggie mix. Combine.

Place your chicken breast skin side up in the foil pan. Pour your asparagus/tomato mixture over the top, and use a spoon to get all the oil and rosemary leaves out of the bowl and onto the chicken. Arrange the veggies around the chicken breast (not on top), and make sure the oil has coated the top of the chicken breast well. Lay the other sprig of rosemary across the top of the breast. Squeeze the lemon juice over the whole package.

Place your foil pan on a cookie sheet in case of spillage, and place in the oven. Cook for 30-35 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before enjoying.

Upon removing the chicken from the oven, I simply folded down one side of the pan and poured the contents onto my plate, juices and all. I quickly broiled a crusty wheat roll and added that to my meal. The juices from the chicken, the lemon, and the olive oil combined with the rosemary to create a delicious broth which perfectly accompanied the asparagus and tomatoes.

I must say, this is infinitely better than anything I’ve ever eaten from the freezer section. The effort this meal required was not that much more than cooking something pre-processed, and the result was incredibly satisfying. The beauty of this meal is twofold: first, the variations of what you put into the pan are numerous, and second (and perhaps best of all), the foil makes cleanup super easy. Enjoy!